Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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B09887
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Josephus redivivus: or, Innocencie violated and vindicated. In a sermon preached on the publike day of Thanksgiving, in Wandsworth in Surey by the vicar there. On Thursday May the 24th, 1660.
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Roberts, Hugh, fl. 1660.
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1660
(1660)
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Wing R1597AB; ESTC R233804
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10,639
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22
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the Sons of Adam have gone on in their Gen. 11. wicked Attempts if God had not confounded their Language How should St. Paul have escaped the Act. 23. hands of his Persecutors if there had not arose a dissention between the Pharisees and Sadduces and the Multitude divided The Church of God hath been the safer when the storm raised against it increased the higher Many Errours striving against the truth hath been the security of the truth which would have fallen under the danger of a single Error We have seen the experience in our days and we hope to finde the comfortable consequence and issue of it Methinks I hear some object That this Party Object was a loose Party had Joseph no better Abettors then Reuben to appear on his behalf If the Cause be like the Patron we could finde so much to lay to his charge as would much disgrace the Cause And this is not the last time that loyalty hath been blemisht with loosness which is but a weak disguise for Rebellion But yet that we may not be too censorious we must as well take notice of his natural Piety as of his carnal Impiety let his loyalty to his Brother plead some excuse for his disloyalty to his Father However if we must enter into comparison their Unnatural Cruelty will look as black as his Carnal Uncleanness However Joseph's Enemies have no great Cause to stand upon their own Integrity or censure Reuben's Folly when deep dissimulation shall cloath their cruelty with hypocrisie we finde vers 35. All his sons and daughters rose up to comfort mournful Jacob for his absent Joseph feignedly to comfort him for the sorrow they had wilfully brought upon him but he refused to be comforted The wound was too great to be healed with a few good words and plausible Declarations they could not cheat the old man into an approbation of their cruelty since themselves had brought upon him that sorrow which they endeavoured to daub over with the untempered mortar of their hypocrisie 'T is probable that if all his Sons then Reuben was in the Company but a true Mourner amongst many Dissemblers Thus these great men have brought all into a Confusion their Father in mourning Reuben in Vers 30. distraction what to do or whither to go Joseph is in Egypt and themselves driven to shifts and streights to bear up against the desolation they had brought upon themselves and their Country Having thus seen foolish men opposing let us consider Gods truth and wisdom carrying on his own purpose notwithstanding the counter-working of all his Enemies Their Scorn proved a true Prophecie Shalt thou indeed Yea indeed He shall reign over them What GOD determines Man cannot hinder Christ will protect his Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it God hath said David shall be King of Israel Saul mustâ—rs up his Armies consults with his Allies layes snares in every corner to intrap David and by the treachery and help of Doeg murthered all the Priests of the Lord who wished prosperity to David All these plots and cruelties could not long keep the Scepter out of Davids hands Saul was killed and David when he was thirty years old began to 2 Sam. 5. 4. reign and reigned forty years over Israel So let thine enemies perish O Lord and so let the Crown be setled flourish and continue upon the head of thine Anointed We have in this Transaction seen much of Man but more of God Man will not have Joseph to reign over them but God hath appointed it should be so and after and against all mens devices it was so But so remarkable are the steps of Divine Providence not onely in carrying on this great work but in setling Joseph in his power that he is blind indeed who sees it not to be the work of the Lord and in whose eyes 't is not miraculous His Brethren force Joseph into Banishment they live to see him reign over them they out-live their own shame beholding Joseph's glory and yet to their unspeakable advantage What would have become of them if their plots had taken who should have nourished them their Wives their little ones in the Famine if their fury had been executed their designs prospered and they killed Joseph We may well say what Joseph to them Ye thought evil against me but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as 't is this day to save much people alive The Evil was of Man both actually and intentionally but the wisdom of God turned it to a real Good both to them who contrived the Evil and also to the benefit of the whole Country Thus we have seen their parting sad for Joseph if God had not miraculously preserved him in a strange Country and given him favour and acceptation amongst strangers and they of a strange Religion making his wisdom Piety and Patience the more famous by his sufferings But more sad for his Brethren because sinful if God had not spar'd them to return to their Loyalty so to make some amends for their former Impiety Let us now behold their meeting after many storms and troubles and we shall find that to be as full of submission peace and comfort as was their parting of scorn disloyalty and treachery Vide Chapter 50. 18-19 And his Brethren also went and fell down before his face and they said Behold we be thy servants And Joseph said unto them Fear not for am I in the place of God We were thy Brethren but Gods Providence hath exalted thee now above us by our wickedness we have forfeited that Relation therefore they fell down before his face that was an acknowledgement of his Soveraignty Behold we be tby servants and this was the profession of their Loyalty But withal observe Josephs gracious but most seasonable Reply Fear not for am I in the place of God What wrong soever was done to his own Person he was most ready to pardon yea so to pardon that he would have them banish all fear Nothing of harm danger or revenge should proceed from him how justly soever he might to them He so freely forgave as that he would have no cause to remain no not of fear But he could pardon no further then a King can pardon rebellious Subjects for wherein they had violated the Law of GOD broken the Rule of Obedience and Charity grounded on that Law Am I in the place of God Such sins and so far as they are done against God there must be for them Repentance humbling themselves and begging pardon of God Thus have I briefly presented unto you three very remarkable Examples The one sets forth unto us the violence of Mans Nature when 't is blinded with Malice Covetousness or Ambition The other is a clear instance of Gods providence first infatuating the counsels of the wicked by dividing their counsels and secondly miraculously bringing his own Determinations to pass against all opposition not onely to the amazement but also to the benefit of all who will not continue willfully blind and obstinate The other is a Gracious Lord and a kind Brother pardoning the rebellions of his Subjects and unkindness of his Brethren when indeed he had advantage over them and power in his hands to have been sufficiently revenged on them There is nothing in this History but was perfectly performed partly in Canaan partly in Egypt above three thousand years since If Antiquity makes the weaker impression hereof upon our spirits I leave you to draw down the Story to a Modern Application Change but one Name and we have seen with our Eyes and heard with our Ears more lively acted what our Fathers have declared unto us God give Grace even to the best of us to repent of our mis-doings to be truly thankful to God for his miraculous Providence Let Reuben rejoyce for what he could not do the Lord hath put to his Hand and hath effected it and Joseph is safe Let Judah be glad not that he was so wicked to banish Joseph but that God was so gracious to turn his evil Designes to so happy a Success and blessed an End Let the Brethren who conspired together to slay him repent if God peradventure will forgive the wicked thoughts of their hearts Let us all lift up our fainting Spirits and let the News have the same operation with us as it had with old Jacob Gen. 45. 28. The spirit of Jacob their Father revived And Israel said It is enough Joseph my son is yet alive I will go and see him before I die The Oyl was wasted and the Lamp was even extinct Gods Comforts are most seasonable Jacob's heart fainted the Oyl of gladness is here poured in and our hearts also are revived It is enough what would we now more Our Joseph is alive we have clear evidences of it God grant we may see him before we die After all these distempers when Reuben had acted against Judah and the rest of the brethren against both They settle live in love pardoning each other flourish under Joseph's Authority who forgave them all And so as a signal of Gods favour and being reconciled unto them they all together became the Twelve famous Patriarchs and Planters of Religion in the whole world If we may hold Parallel in this as in the former particulars we may say 'T is good for us that we have been afflicted FINIS