Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	fire_n	ghost_n	holy_a	6,369	5	5.6726	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A73288	VVaters of Marah, and Meribah: or, the source of bitternes, and strife, sweetned and allayed by way of aduice, refutation, censure, against the pseudo-zelots of our age: by Humphrey Sydenham, master of arts, late fellow of Wadham Colledge in Oxford.	Sydenham, Humphrey, 1591-1650?	1630 (1630)	STC 23574; ESTC S125548	26,958	48

But Hee was made all vnto All partly by commiserating them partly by doing something like Theirs which notwithstanding did not oppose the Law of God or else as Saint Augustine paraphrases it Compassione misericordiae non similitudine fall aciae or else Non mentientis actu sed compatientis affectu Augusi ctiam lib q. 83. q. in his ninth Epistle to Jerome and more voluminously in his booke contra mendaeium 12. v. 1. chapter Neither was he all to All in way of Conuersation onely but also in matters of Discipline and Aduice in which he deales with the Delinquent as a disereet Husbandman with a tender plant or tree He waters it and digs about it and if then it leafe and bud onely and not fructifie He puts his Axe vnto it not to roote and fell it but to prune it He lops off a sprig or a branch but He preserues the body Thus the Inordinate must bee admonished onely not threatned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greeke not Corripite or Castigate as Castellie and Erasmus would haue it but Monete saith Beza Eez. Annot. in 2. Thes 5.14 warne them that are vnruly 1. Thess 5.14 So also the Feeble-minded must bee solac'd and incourag'd not rebuk'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Consolamini Comfort the Feeble-minded the same chapter and verse Lastly the Weake must not be depressed but supported Support those that are weake among you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Subleuate hold vp Sustinete infirmu-opitulamini sic ex Ambros Tertul. Bez. vt supra as a Crutch doth a Body that is lame or a Beame a house that is ruined which word hath reference to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Acts Suscipere Infirmos or Sustinere I haue shewed you all things how that so labouring yee ought to Support the weake Act. 20.35 Here then are Weake and Feeble-minded and vnruly and these must be supported and comforted and warnd no more I finde no authority for Indignation I doe for patience for patience to all these nay to all men in the heele and cloze of the same verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be patient towards all men 1. Thes 5.14 and not onely so but to all men with all patience too so Timothy is aduis'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exhort with all long suffering and Doctrine 2. Tim. 4.2 And indeed this Doctrine of Long suffering is a Mercifull Doctrine we seldome finde true patience without Commiseration Mercy is the badge and Cognizance of a Christian It markes him from a Caniball or a Pagan And doubtlesse Those that haue not this tendernesse of Affection whether in the Naturall or in the Spirituall Man are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Sauage and barbarous Condition Tygers and not Men And therefore as Mercy diuides a Man from a Beast so doth it a Christian from a meere Man He must be Mercifull Mar. 6. as his Father which is in Heauen is Mercifull O how beautifull vpon the Mountaines sayes that great Oracle of God are the feete of him that bringeth glad tydings of good things Esay 52.7 that preacheth peace that publisheth saluation that saith vnto Sion Thy God raigneth Esay 52.7 Those were said to haue beautiful feete amongst the Hebrewes whose Messages were shod with loy Estius in Rom. cap. 10. vers 15. who spake comfort to the people and not Terror Now what such Ioy and Comfort to the Children of Sion as the glad tydings of good things those excellent good things Preaching of Peace Publishing of Saluation How beautifull vpon the Mountains are the feete of him that doth it Aug. lib. 32. contra Faust c. 10. Quam speciosi pedes as Augustine reades it how Precious or Quàmtempestiui Maturi as Tertullian how Mature and timely Tertul. lib. 5. contra Marcionem cap. 2. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saies the Septuagint Quàm pulchri quàm decori how Faire and Comely which some of the Ancients and with them Leo Castrensis in Esay 52.7 S. Ierome haue read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cutting off the three latter vowels which they expound sicut Hora that is as they say sicut tempus opportunum or tempus vernum as the Spring time when all things florish so that making the Text mutilated and impersect they would haue the words runne thus Schol. Roman sequens septuagint Sicut horaa super montes sic Pedes Euangelizantis Pacem As the Spring vpon the mountaines so are the feete of him that preacheth peace where all things are greene and fragrant when we are led into fresh and sweet and pleasing pastures the pastures of the Spirit the Staffe and Rod of the Lord to comfort vs his Peace and his Saluation whereby we may walke cheerefully in the paths of Righteousnes and so following the great Shepheard of our Soules who will feede vs as his chosen flocke wee shall graze at length vpon the Mountaines the euer-springing mountaines the Mountaines of Israel And are the feete of him that preacheth peace that publisheth saluation so beautifull beautifull on the mountaines too what shall we thinke then of the feete of those the Blacke feete of those who like the possess'd man in the Gospell Marke 5.2 still keepe among the Tombes tread nothing but destruction and the graue and as if they still walk'd in the vale of darkenesse and the shadow of death beate nothing but Hell vnto their Auditors which by continuall thundring of Iudgements so shake the foundations of a weake-built faith that they sometimes destroy the Temple they should build vp and in this harsh and austere manner of proceeding they oftentimes exceed their Commission when pressing too farre the rigour of the Law they trench on the liberty of the Gospell as the Disciples did Luke 9.55 who requiring fire from heauen to consume the Samaritans they text it with the seuerity of Eliah 2. King 1.10 As Eliah did vnto the Moabites But the Lord of mercy is so farre from approuing this fiery zeale that Hee not onely rebukes it but the spirit that suggested it You know not of what spirit yee are for the Sonne of Man is not come to destroy mens liues but to saue them Luk. 9.56 And doubtlesse the destroying spirit is not the right Spirit The Holy Ghost you know appeared in the forme of a Doue and as the Doue is without gall so should the Organ of the Spirit be the Preacher Detrabendum est aliquid seuer itati saith Augustine to Boniface vt maioribus malis sanandis Aug. ad Bonifacde Cor. Donat. charitas sincera subueniat Who would not taxe it in a Iudge as a crime and custome too vniust to be mou'd to choller against a Delinquent or Malefactor when charity should guide him and not passion He doubles the offence that doth both exaggerate and punish it That Diuine labours too preposterously the reformation of his hearer that chides bitterly when he should but admonish

and admonish Isid lib. 3. de summe bone cap. 2. when he should Beseech Qui veracitèr fraternam vule corripere infirmitatem talemse praestare fraternae studeat vtilitati vt quem corripere cupit humili corde admoneat saith Isidore Sweet and mild perswasions and the admonitions of an humble heart worke deeper in the affections of men then all the batteries of virulence and Inuection Oyle you know will sinke into a solid and stiffe matter when a dry and harder substance lyes without and can neither pierce nor sosten it That which cannot be compa'st by the smoother insinuations of Aduice and Reason shall neuer be done by force or if it bee 't is not without a tang of basenesse There is Some-thing that is seruile in Rigour and Constraint Char. lib. 3. and takes off from the Prerogatiue and freedome of humane will The Stoick tells vs Facilius ducitur quàm trahitur Seneca there is a kinde of generousnesse in the minde of man and is more easily led then drawne impulsion is the childe of Tyranny and holds neither with the lawes of Nature nor of Grace Deus non necessitat sed facilitat God doth not necessitate or if necessitate not compell man to particular actions but supples and faciles him to his Commands And doubtlesse hee that would captiuate the affections of his hearers and smooth and make passable what he labours to persawde in the hearts of others must so modifie and temper his discourse that it proue not bitter or distastfull like a skilfull Apothecary who to make his Confections more palatesome and yet more operatiue qualifies the malignity of Symples by preparing them makes poyson not only medicinable but delightfull and so both cures and pleases I write not these things saith Saint Paul to his Corinthians to shame you 1. Cor. 4.14 but as my beloned sonnes I warne you He will not shame them and at roughest He will but warne them that as Sonnes too as beloued Sonnes And if this will not suffice he will beseech them also 1. Cor. 4.16 I beseech you bee followers of me as I am of Christ in the 16. verse of the same chapter Calmer admonitions are for the most part seasonable when reproofes ouer-rough and blustring not onely not conforme the hearer but exasperate him and therefore what our Apostle aduis'd the natural parents I may without preiudice the spirituall Parentes ne prouocetis ad iracundiam filios vestros ne despondeant animum Parents prouoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged Coloss 3. For certainely words are the image of the soule and if they flow from a gentle and meeke minde they produce the like effects Gentlenes and Meekenes But from a swelling and tempestuous spirit they recoyle as a peece that 's ouer charg'd and start backe as a broken Bowe They prouoke nay they discourage and find no better entertainement then the stroakes of a hammer vpon an anuile which the more violently they are laid on the more violently it rebounds and therefore Saint Patol is so farre from obiurgation Philem. 7.8 or menacing that he will not so much as enioyne his Philemon but labours with an Obsecro when he might haue vs'd a Mando Though I might be much bold in Christ to enioyne thee yet for loues sake Iorather beseceh thee Phil. 7.8 So that where Loue is there is still an Obsecro where it is not there is commonly a Damno Hence 't is that the Pulpit is so often the Mount of Terror and of Vengeance the Throne of personall eiaculations the Altar where some belch nothing but fire and brimstone vomit the Ite maledicti too vncharitably and which is worst too particularly who scare and terrifie when they should entreat and in stead of Beseeching fall to Reuiling Rom. 12.11 who vnder a pretence of feruency of the Spirit and seruing the Lord sincerely ransacke Gods dreadfull Artillery and call out all his Instruments of Iustice to assist them his furbisht sword and glittering speare his bowe of steele and sharpe-set arrowes his horse with warre-like trappings neighing for the battell his smoaking iealousie and deuouring pestilence his flaming metecrs and horrid earth-quakes his storme his whirle-wind and his tempest flouds and billowes and boylings of the deepe his cuppe of displeasure and vials of indignation his dregs of fury and besome of destruction his haile stones and his lightnings his coales of Iuniper and hot thunderbolts Thus in fearefull harnesse hauing muster'd vp all Gods Iudgements in a full volly they at once discharge them against the pretended corruptions of particular men whom their vivulence labours rather to traduce then their Deuotions to reforme And this is but a spirituall distraction a deuout phrenzy a holy madnesse through which like the Lunaticke in the Gospell they fall sometimes into the water Marke 9.22 sometimes into the fire Nothing will satisfie them but flouds and flames flouds to o'er-whelme the sinner or flames to martyr him But Quis furor ô ciues quae tanta dementia Publicke reproofes when they are cloath'd with Terror not onely disparage but dis-hearten They breake the bruizedreede Esay 42.3 and quench the smoaking flaxe run many on the shelues of despaire where they make an vnhappy shipwracke of their faith and not of their faith onely but of their body also exposing it to poyson or the knife to strangling or to the floud to the wilfull precipitation of some Towre or Cliffe or the vnnaturall butchery of their owne hands and so tormenting the body for the soule by a temporall death at length they feele the torments both of soule and body by an eternall death Thus if Incisions bee made too deepe in the vlcers of the Soule and the spirituall wound search'd too roughly it more relishes of cruelty then of Loue and he that doth it rather preaches his owne sinne then endeuours to cure anothers Qui delinquentē superbo vel odioso animo corrigit non omendat sed percutit Jsid lib. 3. de summo Bone cap. 51. Rebukes which taste of enuie or superciliousnesse do not reforme but wound and in stead of lenitying and making more tractable indifferent dispositions they stubborne them knowing that reproofes too tartly season'd are the seruices of Spleene and not of Zeale 't is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeale from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seething and boyling of a pot Now a pot you know not temperatly fir'd boyles ouer and certainely if Moderation sometimes blow not the Cole but wee make virulence the bellowes of our zeale it not onely seeths and rises to passion and distemper but boyles ouer to Enuy and Vncharitablenesse And therefore our Apostle deuiding the properties of true Charity from a false zeale makes this one Symptome of that great vertue Charitas non aemulatur Eslius in 1. Cor. cap. 13.3 Cyplib de zelo Liuore 1 Cor. 13.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Originall non

men and partakers of our Nature and not onely in this Generality of loue neither Aquin. secunda secundae q. 25. Art 2. but sometimes more personally In articulo necessitatis secundum praeparationem animi as the Schooles flourish it In an Article of Necessity by some mentall preparation To wit That our minde should euer bee so prepar'd that if Necessity did comply we could loue our enemy in Singulari too more specially more particularly And not onely Thus to our enemie but the Wicked enemy Charity binds there too but there as before Non culpâ quâ peccatores sed naturâ vt diuinae beatitudinis capaces For there are two things considerable in the wicked man Nature and Sin According to Nature which he hath from God he is capable of Beatitude and so the Obiect of our Charity But according to Sinne by which hee stands in Diameter Debemus in peecatoribus odire quòd peccatores sunt et diligere quòd homines sint beatitudini capaces Aquin. secunda secundae q. 25. A. 6. and direct opposition to his God and so finds an impediment of this blessednesse hee is rather the But and Aime of our hatred then Commiseration And therefore whereas the Prophet is often violent against the wicked man debarring him as it were of all Charity with his Conuertentur peccatores in Infernum The wicked shall be turned into Hell Psal 9.17 'T is spoken per modum praenunciationis non imprecationis by way of Prophesie not Curse and therefore 't is not Conuertantur peccatores Psal 50.10 Let the Sinners be turned but Conuertentur in the Future They shall be turned or perchance too per modū optationis by way of wish yet so that the desire of him that wishes be not refer'd to the punishment of man but the Iustice of him that inflicts it Because God himselfe punishing doth not reioyce in the destruction of the wicked but his owne Iustice or else that this desire be refer'd to the remotion of Sinne not the very Act of punishment that so the Transgression be destroyed and yet the Man remaine Secunda secundae q. 25. A. 7. ad 3. And there is Charity in this too great Charity that we wish the preseruation of the Sinner when we desire the destruction of his Sinne But this is Charitas secundùm naeturam also which is not onely expos'd to Man and the worst of men but to Creatures reasonlesse nay to the very Deuils themselues whose nature we may euen out of Charity loue forasmuch as we would haue those spirits to be conseru'd in suis naturalibus Secunda secundae q. 25. A. 11. Genel as they are naturally spirits to the Glory of that diuine Maiestie that created them so Aquinas secunda secundae quaest 25. Art 11. Thus we haue followed Charity in her largest progresse through heauen and Earth to the Horrid pit From God by men to Spirits if there be a place or subiect else where Goodnesse may reside or pitch on Charity will dwell there also It beareth all things 1. Cor. 13.7 beleeueth all things hopeth all things endureth all things Are there Prophecies They shall faile Are there Tongues They shall cease Is there Knowledge 1. Cor. 13.8 That shall vanish but Charity shall neuer faile neuer in matters of Nature or Grace or Glory of the Law the Gospell or their Consummation Charity fulfils the Lawe comprehends the Gospell and compleats Both. All the Morall vertues lye shrin'd here Secunda secundae quaest 65. Art 3. Concl. August Serm. 46. de Tempore 1. Cor 13.23 so Aquinas all the Cardinall saith Augustine all the Theologicall Saint Paul though not ex confesso yet by way of Intimation for Faith and Hope are not onely with it but vnder it The greatest of these is Charity 1. Cor. 13. vlt. The greatest of these All these they are all in Charity and Charity in God In God God it selfe God is Loue and he that dwelleth in Loue dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Iohn 4.16 'T is plaine then where Charity is there is an habitation for the Lord and where 't is not there is a Thorow-fare for the Diuell Religion is but rottennesse without it and all this front of holinesse but drosse and Rubbish Tell me not of Faith without thy works nor of Prayers without thine Almes nor of Piety without thy Compassion nor of Zeale without thy Charity what is Deuotion when 't is turbulent or Conscience when 't is peeuish or Preaching when 't is Schismaticall I loue not Diuinity when 't is stipendary nor purity when 't is factious nor Reprehension when 't is Cruell nor Censure when 't is Desperate Orall vehemency hath more tongue then heart therefore that Zeale which is ouer-mouth'd wee may suspect either for counterfeit or Malicious Beleeue not euery spirit saith Saint Iohn but try the spirits whether they be of God or no 1. Iohn 4. for many false Teachers are gone out into the world Into the world in all Ages and all Churches Let 's particularize in some in that of the Apostles first when vnder a pretence of sincerity and suppressing Innouation labouring to establish the Iewish ceremonies more firmely there were some that subtilly cryed downe the very seeds of Christianity as those false apostles did which came from Iudea vnto Antioch and taught the Brethren That except they were Circum ised after the manner of Moses Acts 15. they could not bee saued whom Paul and Barnabas first and afterwards Peter and Iames and the rest at Ierusalem both zealously did resist and in their Synod or first conuocation powerfully suppresse But this Pseudo-zeale in the time of the Apostles did but smoake and sparkle like fire vnder greene wood In that of the Fathers it brake out into flames when someturbulent and discontented spirits burning in hatred to the true Professors or leaning partially to some faction against the Church notwithstanding out of a meere tickling and itch of glory offer'd themselues vnto death for the confession of the name of Christ Vide Estius in c. 13. ad Rom. as the Montanists Nouatians Arrians Donatists whom the Catholicke Church neuer honor'd with the Title of Martyrs but reprobated and cast out as the wilfull Patriarchs of Schisme herefie as Saint Augustine and Saint Cyprian more voluminously The one in his Disputation against the Nouatian the other against the Donatist And doubtlesse Suffering is not alwayes the way to Glory 'T is not Passion but the Cause of it that both creates and crownes our Martyrdomes Timeo dicere Hieron in cap. 5. ad Galat. sed dicendum est Ierome is loth to speake it but he must That those Corporall tortures which for Religion wee vndergoe euen Martyrdome it selfe if it be therefore vndergone to purchase Admiration and Applause of men frustrà sanguis effusus est That blood was spilt in vaine We honour not Martyrs because they suffer but because for Christ