Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A04368
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The picture of patience. Or, a direction to perfection Most needfull and vsefull in these dangerous daies of sinne, and publike feares.
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Jeffray, William.
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1629
(1629)
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STC 14483; ESTC S100758
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29,169
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97
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be perfect c. The second obiect of our knowledge which being knowne must be a motiue to induce Patience to suffer till Perfection is not onely to know that troubles and Crosses are Christs Legacy vnto vs by his last will bequeathed but which is more are Gods high-way to eternall felicity Iob. 5.17 Blessed saith Eliphas to Iob is the man whom the Lord correcteth correction you see is so farre from a curse that it is a meanes to obtaine a blessing so also our blessed Apostle affirmeth Iam. 1.12 Blessed is he that indureth temptation for when hee is tried he shall receiue a crowne of life on the contrary our Sauiour pronounceth a wee to them that laugh now Luk. 6.25 for they shall mourne and weepe thus one poore laughter is attended with a double mourning Shall we not then desire with our Sauiour to be crowned with a crowne of thornes that hereafter by our Sauiour wee may be crowned with a crowne of Starres Reu. 7.14 Those that come out of great tribulation haue white robes to teach vs that purity follows troubles reward afflictions tribulation being that Heauen-bred herbe of the celestiall dyer that dyes our soules in purity for as we haue beene afflicted so shall wee be comforted According to which saith holy Augustine As many persecutions and tribulations as we here indure by pouerty power and cruelty of our enemies so many Rewards after our Reâ—urrection shall we receiue in the Retribution of the Saints Let vs then desire rather with Lazarus to liue in misery and dye with comfort than with Dives and Polycrates to liue in iollitie and dye in miserie the one being that happily-painfull way which leadeth to endlesse happinesse the other that painfully-happilesse rode which leadeth to remedilesse torment resembling herein the Violets of America which in Summer please with a sense-delighting sweetnesse but in Winter kill with a life-deuouring poyson See the geeat worldlings the darlings of fortune with greedinesse gape after her pleasures in the Summer of their strength which speedily prooues their poyson in the winter of their age but christians must looke for winters continuall tempests here that doe expect to obtaine a Summer of glory which neuer shall be subiect to alteration hereafter For as the wood of the Aegyptian Firre-tree throwne into the water against the nature of wood sincketh to the bottome where hauing for a space beene deepely steeped and as it were drunken with that liquid humor doth immediately beyond natures ordinary course mount it selfe aloft vpon the euer-varying face of the water so a christian man hauing the floods of tribulation entring euen in vnto his soule may for a while seeme to be suppressed when indeed hee is but oppressed with so great an inundation but straight the hope of a harbour mounts him aloft and Patience easily wafts him to the Hauen of Felicity Let vs then not be dismaid when Tribulation like a Tempest heapeth billowes of sorrows vpon our backs for a calme shall follow when Christ shall say Be still Mark 4 3â— but of this point we shall speake more largely at the end Onely now let the sweetnesse of Felicity giue a relish to the bitternesse of Miseries that it may make vs patiently endure what God louingly inflicts that Patience may haue her perfect worke that wee may bee perfect c. And the rather because we reade in Ezechiel that he saw a strange beast with the face of a Man a Lion an Oxe and an Eagle and in the 10. Chapter hee sayth he saw the same beast againe but the face of an Oxe was now changed into the face of a Cherube Ezech. 10.14 To teach vs that labour toyle and affliction open vnto vs the Glory of Eternity making vs of Laborious Oxen Glorious Cherubins in Angelicall perfection For it is not the Beautie of the Face of Man The fiercenesse of the Lyon nor the quick sight and Agilitie of the Eagle that helpe vs forward in the way to perfection Only the Face of an Oxe the Trouble and Patience in that trouble vnder the yoke is changed into the face of a Cherub and this is not another but the same Beast for They were the same faces that he saw by the Riuer Chebah Ezech. 10.22 If then thou desirest to be loosed from the yoke of Humane affliction and be made partaker of Angelicall perfection Then let patience c. The second maine Motiue vnto this duty to let Patience haue her perfect worke that so we may be entire is Imitation and that of those perfect patternes of Patience which haue beene before vs for Examples vsually preuaile more them perswasiue arguments and herein the most perfect Patterne must needs prooue the most forcible motiue to induce vs to let Patience haue her perfect worke For as Aristotle commanded that Children should not looke vpon Pauson's vnperfect figures but vpon the perfect figures of Polignotus least they indeauouring to attaine perfection might by vnperfect patterns be inueloped in the Cimerian darke cloudes of Imperfection So I being about to build this absolute Aedifice euen the perfect worke of Patience in your hearts will not present vnto you an imperfect patterne of so needfull a vertue but will intreate you to behold the Patterne which Christ Iesus himselfe hath left vnto you he being the perfect Picture as of all graces so especially of Patience which blessed Iesus as in his diuine Nature he is the perfect Image of his fathers glory So in his humane Nature he is the absolute Image of perfect Patience let vs therefore follow his stepps as we are directed by the Spirit of God who to this end vouchsafeth to giue vs this holy and heauenly exhortation Heb. 12.1.2.3 Let vs runne with Patience the Race that is set before vs looking vnto Iesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the ioy which was set before him endured the Crosse and despised the shame and is set downe on the righ hand of God For consider him that indured such contradiction of Sinners against himselfe least you be wearyed and faint in your minds See here the Synopsis of Christ his Patience together with with an exhortation to vs to insist in his stepps When the pillar of the Cloud went forward the Israelites followed it and when this Pillar of Health goes before shall we stand still and not follow him We desire to be called Christians and yet haue not learned Christ vaine is the name if the nature be wanting What shall we doe with the appearance when we want the Essence Ought not the masters conuersation be the disciples Instruction How willingly doe we see the Subiects of Kings imitate their Soueraignes example shall not we imitate the King of Heauen Bernard vpon these words Cant. 2.1 I am the flower of the field shewes that two things are therein signified either the forme of our fighting or the glorie of our Triumph and adds Lord thou