Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A61926
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The subject's religion directing and disposing them to a conscientious and careful discharge of their duty in the choice of publick magistrates and officers / by a citizen of London.
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Citizen of London.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing S6105B; ESTC R26950
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15,998
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24
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our Worship which ought to be the true God For if that be apprehended as he really is transcendently good and amiable willing and ready to be reconciled to Offenders then the great Impression it makes on the Mind is LOVE which cherishes Religion into Beauty Perfection and chearful Obedience But if it be apprehended as dreadful only and able to do hurt under the Attributes of Sovereign but independent Will and Power then Fear is all the Temper it gives to the Mind and this ferments the natural Seed of Religion into Superstition or a slavish Devotion so as I said before to worship God as the Heathen did their Daemons for fear of harm and to pacifie the Murmurs of Conscience For such Votaries though they believe the being of a God yet in their Hearts wish there were none But if there be few or no Apprehensions of Divine Attributes in the Mind to beget a real Love or Fear then the Soul of Man is at liberty to make use of Religion so far as serves Worldly Design and this principles it with Hypocrisie the Monster of the Age we live in to be of one two or all Persuasions to serve a Turn or carry on a Design So that Hypocrisie is nothing but Atheism dissembled under a Veil of Religion and Atheism is nothing but Hypocrisie unmask'd Now if there be a God the real Object of our Worship as we all pretend to believe there is doubtless our Religion ought to be real and not hypocritical For all Things are naked and open to his Eye And if our Religion be a perfect and acceptable Service doubtless it ought to be chearful and not slavish as Superstition is which proceeds only from Fear without Love If Goodness then and all Perfection be essential Attributes of a Divine Nature that is if Sovereign Power and Will be inseparable from Goodness in God and not its overmatch as some would think then God's Power is comfortable and not dreadful till his Goodness be abused and offended so that all our Fears and hard Thoughts of God do arise from our own Disobedience to his Will made known which nothing can remove but our Repentance and Obedience For as his Mercy is over all his Works and he would not have any to perish so he is just and cannot approve of Iniquity in his Creatures and when in obeying his Will we have an inward Sense of his Goodness and Love towards us it begets in us a Love towards him So that Love is the proper and genuine Principle of that Religion which is in its own Nature perfect and to God most be acceptable as is evident from the first and great Command Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart Soul and Strength and thy Neighbour as thy self And as this Love of God is always attended with an awful Veneration towards him as our Father which is a Child-like Fear of offending him So this Love of our Neighbour ought to be perfect Charity and universal to all Mankind especially to such as are Members of the Catholick Church and not limited restrained or confined to any Herd or Sect nor Mercenary but as the Sun shines giving out his Rays without expecting any Return 'T is true the Mind that is conscious of offending by Disobedience and Abuse of God's Goodness has its Eye always Bloodshot with Guilt and Fear and therefore can behold nothing in God for the present but Power and the Severities of his Justice nor arrive at any Opinion of God but as powerful in order to Punishment And such as continue thus in wilful Disobedience to the Will of God made known do gradually harden themselves till they degenerate into Despair of Mercy from whence proceeds Hatred of God and Goodness which is final Impenitency And this is the Case of the Devils themselves who can now frame no Apprehensions of God but what are terrible as appears by the Product of their Faith which is to make them tremble Before the Gospel the Mosaical Occonomy or Worship was not Superstition but Imperfection For the Law made nothing perfect but is as a School Master to bring us to Christ And Fear was that natural Temper which was impressed on the Mind under the Mosaical Discipline as a main impulsive Principle to the religious Observation of it And for that Reason we find Religion generally in the old Testament expressed by the Fear of God Jacob calls God Almighty the Fear of his Father Isaac And we may-assert that Fear continues the predominant and active Principle in our Devotion even now under the Gospel until God in Mercy gives us new Grounds of Hope for Pardon on our Repentance as he hath done to all Mankind by his Son whom he first promised and in due time sent him into the World for this very end to principle Men afresh with the Love of God which their Sin and Guilt had extinguished For which End we find the Proposals and Delivery of the Gospel are made after the sweetest way of Invitation as if it were in a wooing way of Intreaty We as Ambassadors of Christ saith the Apostle as if God by us did beseech you we pray you to be reconciled unto God Vpon which Account Religion through the whole Book of the New Testament is expressed by the Love of God And St. John tells us He that feareth that is he that is chiefly acted by this Principle of Fear to Religion is not made perfect in LOVE that is he hath not yet attained to that inward Frame or Affection of Mind LOVE which of all others is the most generous and acceptable Principle of serving God And 't is from this Principle alone that we are enabled to hold the Faith in the Unity of the Spirit and the Bond of Peace The Truth of both which do plainly appear from the Words of the Apostle Rom. 8. We Christians under the Gospel have not received the Spirit of Bondage again unto Fear as the Israelites did at the giving of the Law in a tremendous manner on Mount Sinai but we have received the Spirit of Adoption the filial Disposition of Children excited in us by the pleasing Invitation and paternal direction of the Gospel whereby we cry Abba Father Which Love of God in this merciful Act of Redemption appears more fully to Men than it did before in Creation and Providence because 't is super-added thereunto like a second Beam of Light conjoin'd to a former shines to all Eyes with a greater Lustere and therefore draws all hearts with a warmer Affection All which is summ'd up by the Apostle in his Epistle to the Ephesians c. 3. v. 17 18. That we being rooted and grounded in Love might be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and heighth and depth and to know the Love of Christ which passeth Knowledge that is to knew the Imensuy of that Love of God discovered in Christ Jesus super added to all the other Instances of
Primitive Christianity in real Meekness Christian Charity and Self-denial than the Picture hanging against a Wall hath of the real Essence and Substance of the Soul and Body of a Man And thus we see Ignorance in Separation as well as in Popery becomes the Mother of Devotion And we may appeal to the surviving Spectators of our late intestine unhappy Broils how our Religion and Government as inseparable Supporters of each other were by the same Instruments and Methods both overturn'd together though the first Miners those of the Presbytery were blown up themselves by those of the Congregational Way who afterwards disagreeing amongst themselves who should be uppermost brought all into Confusion leaving us for a while without any setled Order or Government in the Kingdom till by a miraculous Revolution our Religion and Government were both restored on their old Foundation Wanting nothing but Reformation of Manners in its Members and Harmony in Divine Worship as the best Means to stem the Tide of Debauchery and Profaness in order to such a Reformation and to check and countermine the Jesuit on the one hand and the Sectary on the other so as to secure our setled Religion and Government against the Subtilty and Malice of both That instead of Emulation Strife and Envy and contending who shall be uppermost we might all as Subjects of one Government and Members of one National Communion humble our selves under the mighty Hand of God and provoke one another in Tenderness to Love and to good Works thereby to propagate the Faith in the Vnity of the Spirit and the Bond of Peace Now as it cannot be denied but the Presbyterians laying the Blood of the Royal Martyr at the door of those of the Congregational Way were the chief Instruments in that mighty Revolution so it is as plain that what they did in order to it was to establish Presbytery here in this Kingdom So we must also allow the Dissenters to be eminently instrumental in the late happy Revolution to settle their Sacred Majesties now on the Throne But though I shall not here question from what Principle they acted therein yet I may boldly say that if they were real Friends and Well-wishers to Monarchy they would as readily demonstrate their impartial Affection and Loyalty to their Majesties to secure and support them now in the Throne as they are Guardians and Head of our Established Religion and Government by disposing their Subjects to Harmony in Worship the alone Seminary and Nursery of true Loyalty and Union among our selves and live in Charity with their conforming Brethren peaceable and content with the Indulgence allowed them till a proper Medium may be found out for all to join in the same Communion as Subjects and Children of one and the same Civil and Politick Parents and Government And in the mean time forbear to rail against and cry down the innocent Rites and Ceremonies of our Established Religion to create Offence in the Ignorant and the Weak with Designs thereby to draw our Members into their Separation as if the external way of Worship were the vital Substance in Religion Especially when the Church of England lays no more stress in any Rite or Ceremony than Decency and Order according to the Tenor of the Gospel do require And it is plain from the the 34th Article that as things indifferent they may from time to time be changed altered or abrogated to promote Peace and Harmony in the Church but not to be done by any private Spirit And it is most manifest our Holy and Reverend Governors are inclinable nay most desirous to comply with any reasonable Demands in order thereto if the Dissenters would agree among themselves and make their application as becomes Inferiors to those who are intrusted by the Government in so sacred and weighty an Affair We may justly therefore pronounce a Woe against them that do hinder nay that do not as much as in them lies promote so great a Blessing to their Majesties and the whole Kingdom But what hopes can we now entertain that Dissenters should ever unite with us when they are so far from any such Condescention or Application in order to it that by Colour of their Indulgence but contrary to the Design of the Law-makers they have set up their Standard in open defiance against it Printing and publishing the Heads of their Association and Agreement between the Presbytery and the Congregational as irreconcileable as Fire and Water to encrease and multiply their Leaders as it were under their Political Discipline assigning to each his Parochial Boundaries as so many Patriarchs each within his peculiar Province in opposition to the settled Religion and established Discipline of our National Church And all this done that they may the more effectually dispose their own Followers to a greater Aversion to our Communion and draw our Members with the Baits of Interest Trade and Advantage into their separate Congregations as into so many Arks of Salvation as if no sure Guide can be found elsewhere in the right and ready way to Hierusalem And yet at the same time notwithstanding the legal Test and Qualification by the Government enjoin'd peremptorily challenging by Nature and Education to use their own Words an equal Right with their Fellow-Subjects complying with the Law to bear Offices both Civil and Military in the Government Nay so bigotted are many of their Followers now become under their Discipline as to impose upon their Children as also upon our Members if they will match into their Families tying them up in their Conjugal Contracts to adhere to their separate Way of worship a good Expedient to advance Hypocrisie but not to promote Christianity or Sincerity Certainly so long as we see them thus restless to seduce our Members and bold in their Attempts and Endeavours to share in the Government on Terms contrary to Law which is in effect to pull down the Fences and Bulwarks of our Religion and Government together we may well conclude without breach of Charity that the Lamp of their Loyalty to their Majesties will burn no longer than it is fed with the Oil of Intetest and that when their Designs are ripe they will again make use of the carnal Weapon to overturn both our Religion and Government together For he that hath but half an Eye may easily discern the same Methods and Engineers formerly made use of now secretly endeavouring so to poison divide and dispose the People if not timely prevented as to engage us again in the same Civil War from which let us all earnestly pray Good Lord deliver us Therefore to countermine those deep dangerous and dark Designs of our Enemies and to undeceive all honest and well-meaning Persons that have been imposed upon by those subtil Politicians I here offer a brief Spacimen of Religion as I have learn'd it under the Discipline of our National Communion which I humbly submit to an exact Scrutiny of the most censorious Adversary