Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A13540
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A good husband and a good wife layd open in a sermon, preached by Mr Thomas Taylor ... ; and published by Iohn Sedguuicke.
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Taylor, Thomas, 1576-1632.; Sedgwick, John, 1600 or 1601-1643.
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1625
(1625)
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STC 23829; ESTC S1374
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15,209
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29
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matter against the seruant of God this choketh him stoppeth his mouth whose malice cannot be stopped Fourthly what greater gaine to the truth and to our selues when our vnblameable course not onely giueth no offence nor layeth blocks to hinder others from the profession but may gaine them to imbrace the religion which is so innocent 1. Pet. 2. 12. Hauing your conuersation honest amongst the Gentiles that whereas they speake euill of you as euill doers they may by your good workes which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of their visitation And to our selues not onely in auoiding the woe due to them by whom offences come but the retaining of a cleare conscience void of offences towards God and all men To provoke vs to the care of walking without reproofe here we are to consider the cautions which we are to take in this case and secondly the meanes how we may walke without reproofe The cautions are first neuer thinke to auoide reproofe of wicked ones but let them haue no cause and then barking against the Sunne they may see their owne madnesse Secondly auoide not mens reproofe by incurring Gods reproofe nor by omitting any part of thy dutie nor committing any euill to please them Let euery man please his neighbour in that which is good and the least euils must not be done for the attaining of the greatest good Rom. 3. Thirdly neuer care for that credit amongst men which is seuered from religion 3. Ioh. 12. Demetrius hath a good report of all men and of the truth it selfe Neither care for credit in the world if thy graces be not witnessed in the Churches 3. Ioh. 6. Let all the world reprooue thee rather then the godly which haue the spirit of discerning The meanes by which a man may walke without reproofe are First ioyne the care of a good name with a good conscience Rom. 12. 17. Prouide things honest in the sight of God and all men Secondly labour for faith Heb. 11. 2. by faith our fathers receiued a good report Faith as it purifieth the heart so the life also Thirdly get puritie of mind spirit and thoughts get naturall corruption cast out of thy soule else it will breake out into thy iust reproofe curb therefore thy naturall lusts Fourthly auoyd all sinne not onely apparant sinnes but appearances of euill motes as well as beames thy motes being a Professor become beames quickly Fiftly meddle not with other mens businesses but diligently attend thy owne but so as thou seeke other mens good as well as thine owne 1. Corinthians 10. 24. Sixtly be aboundant in good workes according to thy power place and opportunitie Coloss. 1. 10. Workes of righteousnesse and mercie commend a man to men Those vertues are amiable euen in the eyes of wicked men And iust dealing with aboundance of good workes bringeth a great deale of honour to religion Now a word of application according to the occasion First you my worthy friend and man of God I assure my selfe your care and ayme was before you gaue me this text to make it your owne rule that of your selfe and the spouse whom you haue chosen the words of this text might be verified They were both iust before God I need not say much to one apprehensiue But remember the counsell Let him that is iust be iust still be still adding vnto your pietie holinesse and religious courses you haue mannaged grace and religion in your selfe and solitarinesse till this day Now you must mannage it in your other selfe in whom you are thankfully to acknowledge it wisely to encourage it carefully to encrease it and in case she bring you thousands of money yet hold this her worth her wealth her chiefe stocke and portion You haue in your single estate worthily taught others as a man of knowledge now you must dwell as a man of knowledge for the improuing of that stocke of grace which is in common betweene you that your fiue tallents may be encreased to ten when our Lord shall call the seruants to their reckoning You haue this day taken vpon you authority and headship and with that a double care first how to vse it secondly how to keepe it The way well to vse it is to command and rule in the Lord that all your coÌ„mands may carrie a stampe of Gods impression vpon them then shall they preuaile on the conscience and win obedience from the wife when the power of both husbands is vnited in them As for keeping your authoritie you know the way and so do not many it will not be kept by force of armes or violence but by religious example and shewing your selfe the best and most godly yea the patterne of pietie to the rest of your familie Gods shining image will not easily be contemned for grace hath an attractiue and adamantine nature to allure and draw to it selfe whosoeuer can espie it Besides it cannot but be expected that you who haue more strength and knowledge should expresse more grace you haue now vndertaken to loue your wife as Christ loued his spouse do it as he did earnestly wisely liberally and all to the end to helpe her to heauen couering and curing all her infirmities this you will not faile to do if you remember that not a daughter of men but a daughter of Israel is committed to your charge And to you whom God hath this day ioyned to an husband Know that Elizabeth was iust as well as Zacharie and holinesse is here as commendable in her as it was in him Nay it was expected that Elizabeth should shine in grace and godlinesse aboue ordinarie women because she was Zacharies wife the Priests wife the wife of so holy a man Grace and holinesse decketh and adorneth all women in all ranks but especially Ministers wiues as wedded to more then ordinary meanes and must be more eminent in you as wedded to one were he not present I would say aboue many ordinary Ministers Let your care be that it faile not on your part but that it may be truly affirmed They are both iust before God Both pious both wise both modest both holy As your husband must dwell with you as a man of knowledge so must you with him as with a man of knowledge You are this day married to an head whom you must obey in all things which he commandeth in the Lord that is in whatsoeuer you cannot proue to be sinne and this willingly chearfully constantly For thus doth the Church whose daughter you are performe obedience to her head and husband Iesus Christ. The same grace will cause you to honour his person in your heart life and whole behauiour esteeming of him as the Church doth of Christ the chiefe of ten thousand In one word it will make you do him good and not euill all your dayes Oh what will not the fauour and wisedome of God do when both married persons are thus iust before God It will set a worke and quicken all Gods graces bestowed on both It will lead into the sight and obseruance of all good duties mutuall and personall It will ease and lighten all crosses and discontents It will sweeten and sanctifie all your societie companie and comforts Well said Salomon hold her and she will vphold you And now we dismisse you with our humble prayer to God for his blessing and direction of you both in this your new estate that as you haue both entred this day into the couenant of God so you may now couenant with your selues that according to this patterne held before you you will both ayme to be iust before God and both walke in all Gods commandements and ordinances especially in this holy and comfortable ordinance without reproofe 1. Obser. 1. Reason 2. Reason Pâ—al 15 4. 1 Vse Genes 7. 1. Gen. 18. 19. Prou. 31. 30. Luc. 10. 42. 2. Vse Doct. Vse 2. Doct. 1. Reason 2. Reason 3. Reason 1. Vse 2. Vse Doct. Obiect Answ. 1. Reason 2. Reason 3. Reason 4. Reason Notes of a iust man Note 1. Note 2. 2. Cor. 5. 9. Note 3. Note 4. Note 5. Note Note 1. 1. Vse 2. Vse Note 2. 1. Vse Ier. 6. Psal. 16. Note 3. Vse Notes of an vpright heart Manner Non dicit sine peccato sed sine querela Doct. Obiect Answ. 1. Reason Vse Meanes of walking vnblameably Application to the Bride groome To the Bride
were righteous before men but this is opposed to all pharisaicall iustice they were both iust before God Hence we note some obseruations 1. As they were religious persons 2. As they were married persons The Lord approueth and honoureth godlinesse euery where as in Zacharie and Elizabeth and teacheth vs by his owne example highly to esteeme of religious persons and willingly chearfully to speake of their graces To shew our owne louing affection to good persons and good things for according to the abundance of the heart the mouth will speake the shop is furnished out of the warehouse To encourage and promote grace in others whensoeuer we see it for praise of vertue encreaseth it Thirdly to prouoke our selues and others to attaine the like graces both for kind and measure Fourthly to get a sure note of soundnesse in our selues for it is a propertie of a good man to honour them that feare the Lord and a sparke of the image and resemblance of the Lord himselfe Note a difference of mens wayes from Gods he commendeth nothing but his owne grace they euery thing but this men are by men commended and applauded for their wealth and good husbandrie diligence in their callings and for their good hospitalitie and the like but if the Lord commend a man he are he beginneth as Neah Thee haue I found righteous And Abraham not so much for his hospitalitie wherein he exceeded but for instructing his familie Women are by men commended for wealth beautie parentage education and such naturall endowments But if the Lord commend a woman it is the woman that feareth the Lord that shall be praised and if Christ commend a woman it shall not be Martha for her good houswifrie but Marie for choosing the better part Many sinne against this rule who prize not nor speake of the graces of God conferred vpon their brethren because either their hearts affect not grace or because they enuie it or else because they turne out this subiect by blazing the wants and frailties of godly men or else by furthering some blots and casting some staine vpon them Our Lord Iesus contrarily affected and commended euen shewes of goodnesse in the young man for example 3. Others make pietie and grace the buts to shoot all their venome and poysoned arrowes against all their discourses runne against persons fearing God and their godly practises that if diuels had tongues of their owne thus would they employ them but not hauing them of their owne they borrowed these mens to this purpose For Christ must be a butt and signe of contradiction still not in his owne person only but in his members also But against whom hast thou blasphemed Or whom hath railing Rabsechie reuiled Or where shall these arrowes shot against heauen light but vpon the head of him that shot them Who euer aduanced himselfe in blasphemie against the God of heauen and prospered Now as they were married persons because our present errand calleth vs to this part we may learne In that both these persons were iust and yet married that marriage hindereth no man or woman no nor the Ministers of God from being holy and iust before God and men Zacharie a Priest here in his office in the Temple in the action of sacrifice was a married man and yet holy which could not be if the marriage of Ministers hindered their holinesse Elizabeth a Priests wife yet commended by the Spirit of God for an holy and iust woman and therefore the wiues of Ministers are set by God in the foremost ranke of Christ holy gracious and godly women To detest that diabolicall doctrine and religion of Papists which cannot be true but this Scripture and many other must be false In that they hold that first marriage is a being in the flesh and an vncleane thing For did God institute an vncleane thing and that in Paradise before any sinne and vncleannesse was Did Christ grace and honour an vncleane thing by his presence and first miracle Is one of the Sacraments of their holy Church become on the sudden so vncleane a thing Lyars haue great need of good memories Secondly that holy ministerie is as deadly a disease of marriage as the foulest adulterie which onely ought to dissolue marriage Thirdly which opposeth marriage to virginitie as chaffe to wheate or as euill to good whereas Scripture opposeth not marriage to virginitie as lesse good in it selfe but as more inconuenient by the corruption of persons or persecution of the times Neither do they oppose virgins to married persons Reu. 19. 9 but to the filthy fornicators of that whore of Babilon Fourthly which disauoweth marriage but not lust abandoneth Gods sacred ordinance according to nature but not burning concupiscence and vnnaturall filthinesse not to be named among Saints for it is one of their beastly and shamelesse constitutions that their Priesthood is not bound to put away an whore or Concubine so it abiure a lawfull wife Not to take any longer in this Sodomiticall sincke we conclude with our text That marriage hindereth neither inward holinesse nor the most holy externall duties neither priuate nor publicke Both were iust An happie coniunction it is when two godly persons meet in marriage of whom may be said both of them are iust as Abraham and Sarah Isaac and Rebecca Priscilla and Aquila Zacharie and Elizabeth Here is an equall yoke when both are like minded and draw one way both haue their names written in the booke of life when both are of one tribe and religion as this couple was when both worship the same true God both care for the things of God both intend the one thing necessarie both are decked with the same graces and both are heires of the same saluation when both are fit and mutuall helpes marriage becometh a sweete yoke When both are iust the familie will be a little Church of God a place of Gods worship presence delight and blessing From such a coniunction is an expectation of a godly seede and an hopefull posteritie to be left behind vs to worship God in earth when we are gone hence as from this gracious couple descendeth Iohn a gracious sonne of nearest seruice to Iesus Christ. Let all that are to enter into this estate consider what their first ayme ought to be not on finest houses and riches which are the inheritance of fathers but a prudent wife which is the gift of God that is a speciall and most choise gift of his loue Seeke first for goodnesse and for goods afterwards faile in this rule and thou shalt buy gold too deare All married couples must learne and labour to be both iust both religious and fearing God Wiues are as straightly bound to be religious as husbands both must labour for Gods approbation both must care to be spouses of Christ both must striue to be in the couenant of grace both must be married to faith