Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A54464
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A sermon preach'd upon the occasion of the Queen's death on the 4th Sunday in Lent, being the 3d of March, 1694/5 / by W. Perse ...
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Perse, William, 1640 or 41-1707.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing P1655; ESTC R33385
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16,721
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28
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a King And To was he to whom this grateful acknowledgment was made No lesse then the King of the whole Earth And though he stand in need of none of our Services seeing the earth is his and the fulness thereof yet he kindly receives and graciously accepts what we offer with a willing and chearful heart even for our sakes that he may be provoked to scatter his blessings more profusely and abundantly upon us And therefore lookes upon his Divine Maiesty to be affronted when we show the smallness of our respect by the meannesse of our Oblation either pinching him in the Measure or which is worse giving him of that which is vile and of no estimation for the Nature and Quality of it Indeed a Mite is accepted but it is where the will is large and the ability small And this good Woman received our Saviours Praise and commendation for this Act because he expresses it in the 4th of Mark 8th v. she did what she could As she was very rich and wealthy for her substance so she show'd the Munificence of her spirit by the Price and value of her donation From whence we may observe that God accepts us according to what we have and not according to what we have not If we have but a Mite he does not look for a farthing And if we have ten thousand Rivers of Oyle he does not expect to be put off with a cup of cold Water Tho he is pleas'd rather to abate then to exact the whole of us takeing short of what he might justly require of us Otherwise were he exact to mark either what we omit or wherein we have done amisse who might be able to stand before him but still our Obedience must bear some Proportion to our knowledge our Power and our opportunities of yielding it when we do what we can then we do in Gods sight what we ought when we do what he by his Grace inables us to perform we need not question but those Testimonyes of our Obedience shall be graciously receivd as this happy Action of Mary Magdalens was when she poured a Pound of precious Oyntment on our Saviours Head for as she was not niggardly as to the quantity so was she not negligent as to the quality She would serve God of the best Abels Offering was accepted because he took of the choicest of his Flock and of the sat of it and Cains rejected because he brought of the fruits of the ground which first came to hand without picking or culling And it is to be observed that in all the Commands that God gave concerning Sacrifices or Oblations he alwayes order'd the best and the choicest to be presented for his Service nothing that was common or defective was to appear in his presence nothing that had any spot or blemish was to fall before his Altar God in some Cases abated of the Measure and quantity if the Offender were not able to bring a Lamb for a sin Offering God would accept of two young Turtles or two young Pidgeons but we never read that he dispens'd with the quality of any Sacrifice that he either received the halt or the blind But alass How little do we follow these Precepts and Commands of God How little do we follow this good Womans Example in giving the best of our store to his use and Service No rather on the contrary we are apt not only to pinch him in the Measure which few scruple at but to show our disrespect to him likewise by setting apart that which is most vile and contemptible for the sacred Portion But above all how careless and remiss are we in offering up the calves of our lips in the dedication of the Sacrifice of our Prayer unto God there be but too many who in this sense offer unto God of that which costs them nothing no not the least thought or consideration They pour sorth it may be whole torrents and streams of words but without a drop of sense or meaning of Zeal or Devotion But surely we cannot be of their minds who think that the bare performance of the Duty without ever minding of the manner after which it is performed will serve the turn who think they have sufficiently answered the end when they have mumbled over so many Pater Nosters and ave Maries and gone over such a set of Prayers or travelled so many miles bare footed to visit the Shrine of a Saint or to kiss some holy Relick But we have not learned so to serve God this is to worship him by Rote without either will affection or understanding No! As those Sacrifices were best accepted which were wholly consumed by fire from Heaven of which we have some Instances in Scripture so we may assure our selves that no Sacrifice of Prayer or thanksgiving will find any acceptance at the hand of God which is not first kindled by a Heavenly Zeal and then ascends by vertue of that holy Flame to him who presents it in the golden Censer of his own Merits to his Almighty Father Let us be careful in all our addresses unto God In all our Divine Services to be intent upon what we are about to be elevated and raised in our Spirits and how short soever our Prayers be let us indeavour they may be fervent and sincere if we offer up but two young Turcks let them not want their wings Mary we see was careful in what she presented unto Christ the scent of it perfumed the whole Room the Whole house as St. John tells us was filled with the Odour of the Oyntment And if the Acts of our Love and Charity to Christ and his Members be as unadulterate and diffusive as hers was we shall not fail of the same gracious acceptance that she met with whil'st she went to pay the acknowledgment of her thankful heart to her beloved Lord and Master Which leads me to the first end for which this Action was designed that which Mary aimed at in anointing our Saviour at this time with her costly Oyntment viz. 1. To give an ample Testimony of her Love and Gratitude her kindness and respect to her Saviour who had done so great things for her that was all she aimed at She dream'd not then either of his Death or Burial The greatest honour that could be shown to Guests of the best Rank and Fashion by the Master of the Feast was to perfume them with precious Oyntment and that this was customary among the Jews and Romans and the Greeks also I might show you were it either a matter in question or worth the dispute the only thing extraordinary in this was the Quantity and the anointing of our Saviours feet a thing unusual even where ease and Luxury did most abound And Pliny tells us that Otho did first teach Nero to besmear his feet with precious Oyntments But this as I shall snow you had a Mysterious signification which neither she nor any of the company were aware of O
motion and that generally a very irregular one too But she a true Mary whilst others cumbred themselves about the gay and unnecessary Vanities of the world minded the one thing necessary which shall never be taken from her for her good workes like the Oyntment which that blessed Convert poured on our Saviours head shall perfume her glorious memory and make it Smell Sweet in every place where her Sacred Name is mentioned as Long as the world endures These good workes and vertuous qualities are the Orators Eloquent without fiattery which give her a lasting and never dying Encomium the loud tongu'd Speakers that have commended her even without a figure to the very Heavens And now perhaps you may think that by my long insisting upon a few of those many particulars I might have named that I have been indeavouring to raise your Passions to an unallowable height and to Leave Such firm impressions of our unutterable losse upon your memorys as will not easily be worn out And truly the parting with so much vertue and Goodnesse as she was Owner of especially when it is a Treasure in this degenerate Age not commonly to be found cannot enough be lamented But my design is more Christian T is to raise in you after her Example an undervalueing of those little gay Vanities wherewith the generality of mankind are so much infatuated and to beget in you a generous imitation of those many most excellent Qualities for which this blessed Saint and most renowned Princesse is and ever shall be deservedly famous I have but one thing more to add I told you the Poor the many poor whom she fed and whose necessities she relieved were by their continual Prayers to Heaven for her the Innocent Causers of her so speedy and sudden removal out of a wicked and deceitful World into the Regions of Everlasting Peace and Happiness Let me put you in mind now what have been the guilty Instruments which have pull'd down this fatal calamity on our heads and deprived us of that great and inestimable Blessing which we so lately enjoy'd that so we may seriously mourn and lament for those unhappy Causes that have occasion'd all this trouble and Mischief unto us for God does not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of Men. They are our Sins our Crying and hainous Sins of all sorts and amongst the rest our horrible Ingratitude for the many deliverances which God hath sent us by the miraculous hand of his over ruling Providence that have caused God to take away the desire of our Eyes and the Joy of our hearts With a stroke 'T is Sin which like a Mell-dew properly so called being seemingly sweet but really pernicious hath smitten our early hopes and blasted our most forward Expectations in a moment It was Sin that wrought the first disorders in Nature and brought the whole Creature into Bondage from which it longs and groans to be delivered Endless it would be to show how this hellish Enchantment hath removed the mighty Kingdomes and Empires of the Earth tossing them like a Ball when they came to her hand to be under her Dominion from one to another from the Assyrian to the Persian from the Persian to the Graecian from the Graecian to the Roman with whom by reason of Temperance frugality Justice and Natural Honesty which then reigned amongst them the Seat of Majesty continued for a long Period of Time till Foreign Conquests introduceing exotic Vices and Orontes pouring forth its wanton and Lascivious streames into the before cold and chast Tiber she by degrees receiv'd the fatal Infection and dyed at last of a Luxurious Surfeit What turns and alterations of Government what dire effusion of Christian Blood what Ruin and havock this too successful Instrument of Hell hath made in all Places whereever she came is too dismal a Story but might befit this sad occasion to remember No wonder then that we who have drunk so largely of the inchanted Cup should feel the miserable effects of it and that we who have been intoxicated with the Bewitching Potion should partake of the shamefull Spueing Let us therefore whilst the stroke of Gods hand is fresh upon us truly bewayl our manifold Sins that have put our hopes so far backward and that have already cost us so dear and amend our lives lest a worse thing befal us God miraculously delivered the Children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage but when they murmured against their Deliverer and were disobedient and continually repining they provoked him to swear in his wrath that none of them should enter into the Land of Promise He could have led them to Canaan by a sar nearer way but for their ungrateful carriage toward him for their hard heartedness and unbelief he harass't them out in the Wilderness till all but Joshua and Caleb of that vast number that came out of Egypt were consumed Let us take heed lest for our ingratitude and rebellious dissatisfied Temper we provoke God to put a stop to that happy deliverance he hath so graciously begun among us and reserve the consummation of it for another Generation that will be mote thankful then we have been and will bring forth better fruit then we have done Lest for our unworthy behaviour towards him and his Laws he let us only have a Pisgah sight of this Palestine and never let us enter into an actual possession of that happy state of Rest and Peace of which we have had so fair a Prospect Into which State of everlasting Rest and Bliss of which Canaan was only a Type the Lord of his Mercy bring us all under the Conduct of our most holy Jesus the Captain of our Salvation who hath purchas'd it for us with the Price of his own most precious bloud To whom with the Father and holy Spirit be all honour and Glory Amen FINIS