Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	fear_n	lord_n	wisdom_n	5,389	5	6.9425	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93917	A learned and very usefull commentary upon the whole prophesie of Malachy, by that late Reverend, Godly and Learned Divine, Mr. Richard Stock, sometime Rector of Alhallowes Breadstreet, London, and now according to the originall copy left by him, published for the common good. Whereunto is added, An exercitation vpon the same prophesie of Malachy / by Samuel Torshell.	Stock, Richard, 1569?-1626.; Torshell, Samuel, 1604-1650. Exercitation upon the prophecie of Malachy.	1641 (1641)	Wing S5692A; ESTC R184700	652,388	677

danger of some fearefull effect and so makes them suspect the worse It is so betwixt man and man Gen. 50.15 So betwixt man and God This teacheth us that undoubtedly there is a great want of this feare amongst most Vse 1 because they doe not apprehend or beleeve the dangers imminent or as great as they be but if a little yet they will not make the worst but the best of every thing They read often the judgements of God written they heare them threatned against particular sinnes and it may be their owne they see them executed upon particular men daily every moment and every morning he drawes forth his judgements yet they hang in suspence whether he will doe with them as they see him doe with others before them They have the root of gall and bitternesse Deut 29.18 19. How many scoffers have we who will not beleeve that Hell fire is so hot as the preacher tels them no Hell but in this life the gall of the conscience which they can cure with company and good fellowship How many have we that thinke the mouth of God is not so hot against sinners as men speake of not so grievous as we would make them beleeve and though now and then some be smitten yet that he must for example sake to keepe some more orderly but no great feare there needs be of it so long as a man is not outragious how many that think repentance is not so difficult as men would make it for at their deaths for a little confession and proclaiming of their sorrow they shall have a fellow pronounce pardon unto them how many thinke that death is not so suddaine and so uncertaine as some imagine few dye so and that they need not much suspect and feare to be prepared but they shall have time enough And for a little good at their death they heare many Preachers not tell of the sinnes of men in their lives for that will not be born but of their good at their deaths and include every bodies soule in Heaven But these men are all voyd of this feare for if they had it they would be easily perswaded of these things in their Soules yea they would suspect farre more then we could suggest for so suspitious is feare and as every affection is prone to the apprehension of those things that feed that affection as love joy hatred c. So specially if feare Particularly every man may try himselfe Vse 2 whether hee hath this feare or no. Is he like to the sonnes in law of Lot when their father told them how that God would destroy Sodome Gen. 19.14 Hee seemed to them as one that mocked So when the Ministers threat particular or generall judgements he is but as one that mockes and because of Gods patience after their Preaching and denouncing thou thinkst nothing will come but say as some have been heard speaking the Ministers doe well to threaten sharpely and speake great words and tell the people of fearefull things but yet we hope for farre better things feare thy selfe because thou canst not feare the things they speak and believe them much lesse apprehend more never casting the worst but making the best of every thing this security argueth that thou wantest this servile feare The fourth effect of this feare is humility for feare beates downe the pride of the heart and makes men not stand upon their pantofles man to man not to stand upon tearmes as betwixt Benhadad and Ahab 1 Kings 20.31 32. so in this where the feare of Gods power is the former examples of Ninevites Israelites Saul Goaler sheweth it plainly as that Rom. 11.20 Bee not high minded but feare a proud spirit and the feare of God can never agree Because they know there is no wisdome nor power against the Lord Reas 1 and so he is to be crept to not held at defiance for common wisdome teacheth those who are in danger of others and under their power when they know their power and justice not to carry themselves proudly but humbly towards them As in Benhadad so women and friends who sue to Judges for their friends doe petition them submissely Chrysostom Because it will make every man out of love and liking with all things he hath Reas 2 and to take no joy in them or at least no pride in them when he feares his power who can take them from them in a moment This as the former sheweth that many men are destitute of this feare Vse 1 they are so highly minded they stand so upon their tearmes and prerogatives in most things not with men but God not in small things but matters of salvation They stand upon their reputation and esteem amongst men when as God cals upon and sounds an Alarum not to the eare by us but to their heart and consciences with us calling them out of their course of life as their ambitious lying deceitfull covetous or carnall civill course and submit themselves to the word to the means of salvation forsaking such courses and living humbly dealing plainly walking contentedly having religious and holy conversations they fear men will mock scorn at them think meanly of them say they are become superstitious or turned precise or they cary themselves otherwise then becometh men of their place and state like Zedekiah Jer. 38.19 Like those rulers who beleeved on Christ but of a proud and ambitious humour they were ashamed to professe him John 12.42 43. They thought it too base a matter to yeeld themselves to be governed by so meane a man as had none almost but a few Fishermen to follow after him so standing upon the reputation of their estate and places they refused to submit themselves to the meanes of Salvation and continued in their damned estate How many have we like to these in all places Cities Townes Villages houses all full of them as many as there are so many have we that yet have not this servile feare Particularly every man may try himselfe whether he hath this feare or no Vse 2 where this Timor is there is not Tumor saith Bernard there this feare hath pierced that bladder and let out all the wind in it thou art growne humble and lowly and standest not upon the reputation or estimation of men so thou may'st doe what God commands when he calls to any duty but if thou doest there is no feare in thee For instance thou hast in the time of thy ignorance or prophanenesse either when thou wast a servant defrauded thy Master to get a stock to set up by as is the custome of divers or being free and in Trade thou hast deceived and defrauded many men and the treasures of wickednesse are yet in thy house Thou comest to the Church thou hearest the Word the Lord smites by the sword of his mouth and calls for this that thou with speed make restitution thou wilt not doe it why thou standst upon thy credit for if thou make open

reason ought all men to deale with God and towards him Because his justice will not suffer him to passe over the breach of his law unpunished Reas 2 no more then he will or can be unjust nay no more then he will not be God for if unjust no God if he let things slip over unpunished he must be unjust except in things where men judge themselves first Then in the Church must there be feare of God Vse 1 namely of his justice and power and not of his mercy only contrary to some who thinke in the Church onely men should feare God for his goodnesse I answer that it is true this should be the principall thing for which they should feare but in the Church though we be all one mans servants yet we are not all one mans children yet if all were so because of the unregenerate part this ought to be in that a man is not altogether freed and made a sonne but is partly a servant c. Then ought every one in the Church to endeavour to know his power and justice Vse 2 and to acknowledge them for howsoever it is true that all are alike in the hand of God and his dominion over all as the Psalmist speakes yet all doe not regard and take notice of it A great many doe not beleeve nor are perswaded of them and that maketh them they feare not God as they should For as Ignoti nulla cupido there is no desire of that which is unknowne so nulla formido there is no feare for feare riseth not so much out of the outward evill as it doth of the inward apprehension of it And therefore not the neernesse of the danger but the conceit of the evill raiseth the affection of feare in the heart therefore Isaiah saith of some that they goe downe laughing to Hell they play merrily upon Hells mouth as the Child without feare playeth uon the Cockatrices den because they are ignorant what danger they are in So then it is not all who are in his power and over whom his authority and justice is but such as know them for present or how they may feele them after that feare and stand in awe of him as they should To teach men if they have not the spirit of sonnes Vse 3 the love of God and righteousnesse that for conscience they will obey yet at the least that they endeavour to obey him for feare of his power and justice as servants if not as sonnes The other is that which is acceptable yet this is that which God calls for and men ought to doe even the outward act of Gods service for feare of his power and justice Though I cannot say it hath any promises of good things yet hath God shewed good and given blessings to those which have it onely As to Ahab and the Ninevites for their repenting at the feare of his judgments and threatning To shew how he will much more accept the repentance of his yea and to draw on such servants to the like for that is a speciall benefit to his Church they be orderly in the outward duty The second thing concerning this servile feare is the effects of it which are these The first that it is tanquam fraenum ad equum as a bit and a bridle to men to with-hold them from sinne from the wilfull practice of wicked things it is the strongest curbe that can be to keepe mans corrupt nature from running forth into outrage if it be surely setled once in them Manifest in Laban when he pursued after Jacob Gen. 31.29 And that of Paul when he sheweth that the want of this maketh the open high-way to the practice of all sinne Rom. 3.18 And that this should be such a restraint it stands with reason because there are two maine things which draw men to sin and the practice of wickednesse The first is the desire of some good men may get by the committing of it but this desire is crossed by feare which is the strongest and most violent affection of all others and so stoppeth the passage of all other desires so that it is neither profit nor pleasure that can make a timorous man hardy or can master and overcome feare in any mans minde but it will overcome all desire of them and nodesire of it nay not the pleasure it selfe all the pleasure in the world cannot comfort a condemned person nor banish feare out of his minde so long as the halter hangeth over his head so long as he dayly and hourely looketh to be drawne to execution But feare is able to expell pleasure and the desire of those things we love most as in Sampson in Dalilaes lap when a noise of Philistims and a false Alarum was upon him Gods feare expells all other feares as is manifest by the Midwives Exod. 1.17 Jer. 1.17 Isaiah 8.12 13. As a stronger nayle drives out a lesse so the feare of God other feares the greater feare the lesse the feare of Hell-fire will carry the mastery of all other feare Luke 12.4 5. We may make use of this Vse 1 first to prove many men amongst us not onely void of a filiall feare which makes men avoid small sinnes and to shun the act of any sinne but of this servile feare because great sinnes are small or no sinnes with them and they have the very habite of all sinne living in the practice of some one or many grosse and impious sinnes whoredome adultery murther and blood oppression and cruelty covetousnesse and usury swearing and blasphemy c. so that whatsoever they say we may say Psal 36.1 The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart that there is no feare of God before his eyes when as then men goe on in their wicked courses and a small pleasure or desire of it will carry them to the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh and to all voluptuousnesse and practice of all pleasure a small feare make them commit any sinne and either coveting some pleasure or thinking to avoid some displeasure of the world they onely neglect not the good but make no bones to commit sin and to lye in it they have not certainly come so farre as to have this servile feare and so they are not sonnes no not servants of God nay though they have the shape of men as Nabuchadnezzar had yet they have not so much understanding as a beast lesse than he had For as Bernard saith Divers 12. Let us lade and over-burthen an Asse and toyle him with labour he cares not because he is an Asse but if we assay to put him into the fire or thrust him into a Ditch or Quarry he shunneth all he can because he loves life and feareth death And yet these run headlong to Hell and breake forth into all kind of impiety as the Horse into the battaile when they know these will worke their everlasting confusion This may teach every man who would keepe himselfe free from the practice

and trade of sinne Vse 2 and that neither the pleasures nor displeasures of the world the delights nor the dreads of it shall draw him to be enticed and openly sinne to labour for this feare by which he shall be able to overcome temptations on all sides For if he have this feare a man would never sell himselfe to eternall torments for a draught of pleasure or for a Million of Gold when it might be said to him as Joshua 22.18 Ye also are turned away this day from the Lord and seeing yee rebell to day against the Lord even to morrow he will be wroth with all the congregation of Israel Loe to day he offendeth and to morrow God will be wroth and he shall perish in his wrath surely no profit or pleasure tendered unto him would make him incurre this danger And for the other temptation hee would easily overcome it by this even the feare of mens feare with the feare of Gods punishments and say happily as David though he spoke it more sanctifiedly Psal 119.161 Princes have persecuted me without cause but mine heart stood in awe of thy words If he have this feare hardly such temptations will assault him For as Chrysost Hom. 15. ad pop Ant. If it be once knowne and heard that an armed Souldier stands watching in a house for the defence of it there is neither thiefe nor robber nor any that practiseth such evill will come neere it So when feare is the keeper of mans heart there is neither the temptation of pleasure or profit or worldly feare will set upon a man but will fly away or be easily expelled subdued as it were by the command of feare God hath set two Schoole-masters over us Pudor Timor shame and feare that should lead an ingenuous nature but if not that yet this should unlesse we will be worse than beasts The second effect of this feare is that it is tanquam acus ad filum the needle or the bristle to the threed that is that as they goe before and make way for the threed but abide not there when it is once come but goes out againe So this feare first entereth the heart of man and makes way for love or the Child-like feare that loving feare first when he is converted and it entereth in for this end to bring or draw in love after it and love when it is once entered casteth feare out of doores that made entrance before 1 John 4.18 This is further manifest by the example of Paul Acts 9.3 6. and Josiah 2 Chron. 34.19 27. so Act. 2.37 38. and 16.30 Rom. 7.10 Because God respects and accepts men to give them grace when they are troubled Reas 1 and are smitten with this feare Isaiah 66.2 and it is spoken exclusivè none but them this then must needs goe before Because mans heart is not capable of grace without this first Reas 2 without this it is not fit to receive the impression of Gods Spirit It gives no grace but it makes capable of grace as we see fire though it give the metall no fashion yet it maketh it liquid and fit to be cast in any mould it maketh the waxe fit to receive any impression of the Seale So this feare though it worke no grace in the heart but leaveth it as corrupt as it findeth it yet it mollifieth it and maketh it plyable for Gods Spirit to worke upon which before could not take the stamp of Gods grace This manifesteth that many men must needs be without grace Vse 1 because many have not had this feare which is ever before grace wheresoever it comes and grace never comes any where where this Usher hath not beene before it is the forerunner of grace as John Baptist was of Christ As God appeared to Elias so he approacheth to the soule 2 Kings 19 12 13 14. he was neither in the winde nor earthquake which rended the earth and clave the rockes nor in the fire that devoureth all before it nor he went not before them but he was in a soft voyce which came afterwards So is the spirit and grace of God it goes not before the servile feare it is not with it when it rends the hard hearts of men and when it melts and mollifies them with the fire of Gods wrath but it cometh after and speaketh peace and rest to the soule whereas many never tasted of this feare and shew it by their lives they have no feare of God nay in words brag they had never no such rentings and meltings of heart nay jest at those which have they shew themselves voyd of grace of true grace yea many who are not so outragious but civill or rather secure who indeed never felt any such trouble and fight in them any such feare or terror but all things is and ever was at peace within they are men voyd of true grace and saving grace they may have the shaddow and similitudes of grace but no substance and truth of it This may teach every man that hath this feare in him Vse 2 to make much of it and nourish it it being the forerunner of grace and as it were the harbinger of it without which it never appeares as God never comes with grace unlesse this apparitor go before as men therefore who desire the Prince and joy in his comming will rejoyce at the comming of his Harbinger and make much of him so ought they of this feare yea and the greater this feare is the more rejoyce at it aswell as men may rejoyce in feare for the greater grace follows after for in the examples of the Scriptures those who have had most feare and conflicts in their conversion have been the best men and women most full of grace God saith Bernard hath two feet the one of feare the other of love and when he would enter a mans Soule he is wont to send afore or step first in with his foot of feare then after his foot of love and the greater the feare is which went before the greater the love is which follows after The third effect of this feare is to make the party it possesseth credulous apprehending every surmise against him making him encline to the worst and forecast the utmost of the evill As in that feare which the Goaler was possest with Acts 16.27 he apprehended the worst and utmost In Samuel and Josiah so in the Ninevites Ion. 3.5 therefore it made them apprehend the worst and beleeve it would be so Because feare brings to minde a mans sinnes and deserts Reas 1 even those which were long before committed and for them makes him apprehend danger and deeper then indeed it is As in the brethren of Joseph Gen. 42.21 no marvell then if it make them easily beleeve that such things may fall upon them Because they know by themselves Reas 2 that those who are injured and offended doe hate the offenders and where hatred is joyned with power and might there must needs be