Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
spirit_n everlasting_a reap_v sow_v 6,865 5 10.5221 5 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A13533 Christs victorie over the Dragon: or Satans downfall shewing the glorious conquests of our Saviour for his poore Church, against the greatest persecutors. In a plaine and pithy exposition of the twelfth chapter of S. Iohns Revelation. Delivered in sundry lectures by that late faithfull servant of God, Thomas Taylor Doctor in Divinitie, and pastor of Aldermanbury London. Perfected and finished a little before his death. Taylor, Thomas, 1576-1632.; Jemmat, William, 1596?-1678. 1633 (1633) STC 23823; ESTC S118152 543,797 874

There are 3 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

Antichristians who are the beast rising out of the earth And they are called inhabitants of the sea for their tumult and incōstancy casting up as the sea nothing but mire and dirt and carryed as waves of the sea by every winde Jude 13. But if any thinke the Evangelist aymeth more distinctly at some particulars I am not ignorant that some by earth understand the common multitude of wicked persons enemies unto Christ and by sea the ecclesiasticall men who have corrupted the earth with bitter brinish and salt doctrine of errors and humane traditions and thus still oppose them But I conceive a further drift of the Spirit of God well suiting to our whole exposition and period of time which this part of the Chapter aymeth at That rather by earth are meant all such nations and Kingdomes of earth subjected to the spirituall whordomes of the dragon so called for their earthly profession affection and practise and by sea the then Roman Empire it selfe so called 1 For the floods of impietie that issued from it as the floods and rivers do all from the sea it was the head of wickednesses 2 For the unbridled rage of it and the unresistable power which was then the great Ocean swelling over all bankes So as the sense seemes to be Wo to the earth and all wicked nations that are enemies to the Church of God but especially wo to the sea the great Empire whose sinnes the dragon hath brought to a great height so as the great mutation of that great estate is now neare and the subversion of the Imperiall and Cesariall power is at hand For now at this time so effectually did the dragon worke in the delusions of Antichrist as that he whose comming was in all deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse was shortly to swallow up the Imperiall power and so to take him out of the way which stood betweene him and his greatnesse as was formerly prophesied 2 Thes. 2. and not long after accomplished When the Church is happy in the midst of persecutions wicked and earthly men are unhappy and miserable So is it here rejoyce ye heavens but wo to the earth and sea Eccles. 8. 12. 13. Though a sinner do evill an hundred times and his dayes be prolonged yet surely I know that it shal be well with them that feare God which feare before him but it shall not be well with the wicked Esa. 3. 10. Say yee it shal be well to the just but wo to the wicked it shall not be so to him it shal be evill to him the reward of his hands shal be given him Psal. 37. 37. Marke the upright man and behold the just for the end of that man is peace but the transgressors shal be destroyed together One reason hereof is in the text Satan being cast out of the men of the Church gets into the swine of the world and carries them into the lake first of sin then of destruction In their best estate they are Satans possession 2 It must be so by the perpetuall rule of divine justice who neither shuffles good and evill men together as men do nor mistakes persons and actions Among men there is a righteous man to whom it commeth according to the worke of the wicked and the contrary Eccles. 8. 14. But the Lord judgeth with righteous judgement Neither doth he forget any of their workes A wise man that delivers the City by his wisdome may be forgotten among men Eccles. 9. 15. as Ioseph was but the Lord forgets not the goodnesse of his servants nor his enemies sinnes but sets up all on their heads for the day of reckoning and recompense Revel 22. 12. Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to render to every man according to his workes The just Judge of all the world must do right 3 According to a mans seed time so commonly is his harvest Gal. 6. 7. As a man sowes so must he reape he that sowes to the flesh must reape corruption but he that sowes to the spirit shall reape life everlasting Doest thou sow chaffe and darnell and weeds and lookest thou for a crop of wheat Sow righteousnesse and thou shalt have a sure reward Prov. 11. 18. but if thou sowest iniquitie looke to reape affliction 4 The truth of God in accomplishing his word must leave the godly most happy while the wicked are wrapped in hellish woes and horrors The same weight of truth which carries downe wicked men into their place hoiseth up the godly as in the other scoale For as all the precious promises of the word belong to the one whereof earth nor hell can defeat them so al the woes and execrations of Scripture belong to the other and shal be true upon him so long as God is true in himselfe There is not a wicked man but he hath all the threatnings of God all the curses of the law and all the terrors of his owne conscience standing and shall stand for ever in force against him if hee stand out impenitently against GOD. Now this is a direction to Ministers for the course and carriage of their doctrine to sing both mercy and judgment and to come both with a rod and the spirit of meekensse Wee must speake peace to godly men but feed the impenitent with judgement This text and all texts and the whole tenor of the Scriptures go before us in this course Unhappy men are they that speake all peace and preach nothing but promises as if all men were godly and the congregations not mixt or if they distinguish of men it is to encourage hearten and harden wicked men for their owne gaine and dishearten and disgrace such as feare the Lord. 2 It is a direction to all men to carry our affections differently according to the differences of men expressing our love and kindnesse to men fearing God and our dislike of evill and wicked men 1 So doth the Lord and his Spirit in this text and whosoever are guided by the Spirit of grace will shew themselves in the helping up and encouragement of godlinesse and furthering the joy of the faithfull and in the discouraging and daunting so far as lyeth in him the wickednesse of men 2 A note of a good man is that a vile person shall be contemned in his eyes and he will love them that feare the Lord. 3 True judgment helps him to discerne between an Israelite and Ismaelite and true affection will cleave to the one and disclaime the other Gods Spirit teacheth none to esteeme carefull Christians vile persons nor to cleave to enemies and resisters of the grace of God who are indeed vile persons and so are they that sort with them or plead for them and as sin makes men vile to God so it makes them seeme to good men 3 It is an incouragement to godly men in the way of holinesse for they are in the way of happiness nothing can make them fall short of
stead of the Sunne she put on and arrayed her selfe with purple and scarlet and set the Moone above her head affecting admiring and aspiring after earthly wealth and dignitie and in stead of twelve starres in her Crowne shee decked her crowne with gold and pearles and precious stones Then she became the harlot sitting on the scarlet coloured Beast and the mother of whordomes and abominatiōs of the whole earth Rev. 17. 3 4 5. They are deceived that suppose the glory of Christs true Church consisteth in scarlet and purple in gold and silver in pompe and externall honor in princely Lordship and Popedome Let the whore of Babylon decke her selfe with these enticing trickes But the spoule of Christ is knowne by her crowne of starres and that inward simple and native beauty and glory which useth to draw not the worlds admiration but contempt upon it Ver. 2. And she was with child and cryed travelling c. Now followeth the fourth propertie in the description of this woman namely her pregnācy and fruitfulnesse in travelling and bearing of children In the verse are two generall parts I. Her conception and carrying of her child in that she was with child ready to be delivered II. Her painefull travell and birth that she was pained and cryed to be delivered In the meaning are three questions to be resolved 1 What is meant by this conception and being with child of this woman An. It is no new or strange thing in the Scriptures to finde the Church compared to a woman with child Isa. 54. 1. Reioyce thou barren c. The Church of the Gentiles which before was barren but now hath more children then the married wife that is the Jewes who came of Sarah opposed to Agar The reason is because of the similitude and agreemēt between the bringing forth of children to God in grace and that to man in nature The resemblance stands especially in five things 1 As wee had two parents saith Augustine who begat us to death Adam and Eve so must wee have two parēts to beget us unto life Christ his Church and these two must be one flesh by the bond of marriage 2 As a woman becomes a mother by meanes of her marriage and company with her husband so doth the Church by her marriage and conjunction with Christ bring forth many Children to God For had she not beene the spouse of Christ and the Lambes wife she had beene for ever barren Sarah was a type of this bride Therefore as Sarah was of a barren wombe and unfit for conception but by the word and promise of God brought forth Isaac who was therefore called the sonne of the promise So the Church was of a fruitles and barren wombe and had never brought forth children to Christ were it not for the covenant and promise of God by which all the faithfull are formed in her wombe who are therefore also called children of the promise Rom 9. 8. The children of the promise are the seed 3 When Jesus Christ the father the second Adam and quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. soweth the seed of grace and spiritual generation partly externally by the preaching of the word which is called the immortall seed of Gods word that endures for ever which therefore carryeth life and quickning with it as being the power of God to salvation Rom. 1. 16 and partly in wardly by the Spirit of God a powerfull agent without whose mighty operation all would proove but a false conception The Church as a Mother receiveth conceiveth it in the wombe of faithfull and pure hearts So Mary pondred all things in her heart And Heb. 4. 2. the word must be mingled with faith or else it profiteth not to this conception 4 As a Woman having conceived brings not forth presently but keepeth her moneths and seasons appointed by God till her very houre come so the Church brings not children to God at her owne pleasure and will but when she hath gone out the full time moneths appointed by God for the new birth of every one of them which is finished by degrees and in due season this is in the text 5 As a mother come to the full moneths of birth bringeth her child into the light So doth the Church bring her children into the light by two meanes partly by profession of the doctrine of grace and partly by the practise of the gifts of grace Then doth she nurse her new-borne babes with the syncere milke of Gods word drawne out of her owne two breasts the Testaments of holy Scripture whereby they out-grow their infancy and come to their age in Christ. 2 Why is this woman said now to be with child and ready to be delivered What was she barren ever before this time An. No. For first she had beene very fruitfull before as ver 17. there is mention of the remnant of her seed Secondly all the sonnes and children of God in all ages were children of this woman Thirdly this vision being to be referred to the times after the Apostles before and about the times of the tyrannicall Heathen Emperors both Scriptures and stories record that there was a wonderfull increase of Christians almost all the world over so as the Tyrants were still kept in worke though they slew them by tenne thousands and hundred thousands Therefore wee must distinguish of the Churches travell This travell is either 1 Generall in the bringing forth of faithfull men to Christ in generall and this is not directly aymed at here Or 2 Speciall and particular of some speciall Childbirth which now she was payned for and cryed to the Lord with ardent prayers for and which was shortly to be borne and brought forth This seemes plaine in the fift verse For what she was with child with that she brought forth and that was a particular manchild of whom we will enquire in the place 3 Why she is said to cry in paine ready to be delivered An. For two reasons 1 To hold the resemblance For as God hath by his inevitable sentence for the sinne of man annexed sharpe sorrow to the birth of every Child Gen. 3. 16. In sorrow shalt thou conceive and bring forth so the text implyeth not a little sorrow in bearing and bringing forth children to God 2 For a more speciall reason in the text which in a word was this The Church being now in and under cruell persecutions and lamentable oppressions and being in her selfe as Woman weake and helplesse exposed to all tyranny and unjust vexation seeth the want of a protector and powerfull defender of the Christian faith and Christian people And therefore as earnestly desires by some of her owne Sonnes deliverance from those paines and oppressions as a woman in travell doth desire riddance from her paines and sorrowes 1. The Church of God is a fruitfull Mother daily bringing forth children to Jesus Christ. Psa. 87. 5. Of Sion shall be said
up to hatefull things condemned by themselves to drunkennesse filthines usury base and shamefull courses that their name stinkes as a Candle sluttishly put out not after but before they are put out that all men may see them cast out of their place parts before hand and if the wicked servants talēt be taken from him what remaines but the other part of the sentence Cast him into utter darknesse Mat. 25. 30. 2. Another note of a man whose place shall not bee found is hee is one whose place is not found amongst Gods people in his House and ordinances Cain as vile as hee was being cast out from the presence of God complaines of a miserable case many outcasts now wilfully excommunicate themselves and please themselves in it their owne hatred of grace hath cast them out from Gods people and worship already Gods house hath already spewed them out as unworthy of the fellowship of Gods people and whither are they hastening hee that will not abide to have his place found amongst Gods people shall one day have his wish his place shall never bee found among them Thirdly a man blowne about as chaffe and dust already shall never have a stable estate hereafter as I. If any bee carried with every blast of false doctrine as unrooted unsetled in the faith never was there change of religion but Satan raised false teachers and seducers who did privily bring in damnable heresies such as Iannes and Iambres that resisted the truth and carryed away numbers from the truth themselves first carryed away by the deceit of Balaams wages beware of such Popish Pedlers that helpe to sell the people of God into the hands of the cursed Babylonians Ieremie describes such 1. They cast aside the Word of God and deliver their owne dreames chaffe instead of wheare they bend and straine their wits to looke out vaine and foolish things causes of banishment Lam. 2 14. 2. They are described by their intolerable Iesuiticall lying fathering that upon the Lord which the Lord never spake where doth the Lord in al● the Scripture enveigh against the powerfull frequēt preaching of his holy word Shall we beleeve he speaks from God who cryes out of too much Preaching I must beleeve that his eyes are sore or bleared who cries out of light how can a Torch-light be welcome to a company of theeves or robbers how can the light of the word be welcome to Atheists Papists and Iesuiticall spirits who would robbe the Church of the word of salvation 3. They are described by hucksterly blending the wine of Gods word with the puddle-water of humane inventions watch them and disclaime them that would sow our field with the miscelen of Popery who like their Jesuiticall friends with one wipe will cast out all the reformed Churches from being the true Churches of God with whom wee have joyned as sisters ever since the restoring of the Gospell as in the harmony of Confessions appeareth with another overthrow the better halfe of the fourth Commandement as their friends cast out the whole second Commandement and as like the Jesuites as may bee cast dirt and foame upon the faithfull able and zealous Preachers because they see them stand in their light as the greatest opposites to their Popish projects Well for giving heed to such deceitfull Prophets the Lord threatneth Ierusalem to wipe her as a maid wipes a dish If we would not be cast out of our places Churches let us beware of such locusts whose property is to eate up every greene thing Rev. 9. 4. especially beware of the delusiō of Antichrist who is that beast that must goe into destruction and the King of these Locusts for how shall they that adhere to him stand or bee found in their place when his place shall not be found II. The like of one who is carryed away with the blasts of temptation from sinne to sinne having no stedfastnesse in a good course None can bee established by iniquity III. The like of them that are carryed away with Apostasie from good beginnings without constancy in their hearts or mouthes or good actions such withered leaves are blowne away with windes Psal. 1. And IIII. Of them that runne after the world setting their hope and heart on earthly things for how can such a ones place be found when earth and heaven flies away and their place found no more Revel 20 11. when all Ilands and Mountaines shall not bee found Rev. 16. 20 Vers. 9. And the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devill and Satan which deceiveth the whole world hee was cast out into the earth and his Angels were cast out with him This Verseis a large confirmation or interpretation of the former and in it are foure parts I. A large description of the party overthrowne the grand enemie of the woman and that by two arguments 1. His names and titles which are foure 1. The great dragon 2. That old serpent 3. The devill 4. Satan 2. His effect he deceiveth the whole world II. The manner of his overthrow He was cast not downe but out III. The place designed whither he was cast into the earth IIII. His company and associates in this overthrow and his Angels with him First of the description Quest. Why is the Spirit of God so large in it Answ. 1. That we should not mistake the enemie overthrowne and conceive of any naturall or physicall dragon in proper sense 2. That wee should not doubt of the truth of the overthrow For the meaning of the names I. The great dragon is the arch-enemie of mankinde who had in all ages by his instruments oppressed and outragiously wasted the Church but especially as wee have seene in this Text by the great and prophane power of the old Romane and imperiall dragons in whom he had ruled at his will tyrannized over the woman spreading upholding all Idolatry blasphemy heresies and plotting dēvising and executing all injustice tyranny and barbarous immanity against her this dragon is now cast out of whom and his greatnesse wee have spoken at large verse 3. and will neither repeate nor add to that discourse II. The Title is The old Serpent where 1. His nature 2. His adjunct His nature he is a serpent First because hee hid and covered himselfe in the serpent in his first stratageme against our first Parents Secondly because of his serpentine disposition in two things 1. His poyson and malice both in the fountaine and streams for in his owne nature his poyson is alwayes ready as in a fountain and in his effects it runneth incessantly as in full streames first and principally against Christ the Head of the Church and then against all the members for the Heads sake His speciall hatred is against Christ for as the serpent carries a most deadly antipathic and fight against the Hart or Hinde so this serpent against Christ who is aijeleth hashahar the hart or hinde of the