Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	free_a	general_a	good_a	61	3	2.1543	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96538	A word in season, for a warning to England: or a prophecy of perillous times open'd and apply'd. Wherein the signes of bad times, and the means of making the times good, are represented as the great concernment of all good Christians in this present age. First exhibited in a sermon preached in the Abby at Westminster, July 5. 1659. and since enlarged and published. / By Thomas VVilles, M.A. minister of the Gospel, in the city of London.	Willis, Thomas, 1619 or 20-1692.	1659 (1659)	Wing W2308; Thomason E1734_1; ESTC R7862	218,037	465

animos * Livy d. 1. l. 3. Civil Dissentions animate Forraigne Foes to a hostile Invasion It s the Devils maxime in the Church and a principle of Machiavillian Policy in the State Divide Impera Rend and Rule Divide a People into Fractions and then they are easily subdu'd by a forraigne Power who are already weaken'd by their own Divisions Woe be to the godly when they are divided amongst themselves and the wicked are combin'd against them When Herod and Pilate who before were at enmity between themselves † Luk. 23.12 were made Friends Christ was soon after condemn'd and crucifi'd Certainly for the Divisions of Brethren there is cause of great Thoughts great searchings of Heart and the Combinations of the Churches Enemies are by all good Christians to be resented as the sad Symptomes of perillous Times The tenth Symptome Security in a State of Uncertainty THe Times are then least free from perill When there is a general Security upon the Spirits of men without any regular settlement of Church or State When all things are much out of Order and yet all sorts of men sit down secure in their present state and condition When notwithstanding the great changes wrought by the Divine Providence in the world men are generally so secure as if they had never seene or were sure they never should see any change Strange it is that a ship newly tost with a Tempest and very lately like to have been swallow'd up by the Seas should saile securely among the yet unquiet Waves when the cloudy heavens threaten a new storme Though the storme be past it 's no wisdome while men are yet at sea to be secure in a Calme Men are oft in most Danger when they are in least fear of Danger Do not your Mariners observe that the greatest Calme is oft the Forerunner of the greatest Storme And have not the most dangerous Earth-quakes come unawares after a still and quiet season and suddenly swallow'd up men and beasts Houses and Cities ●owever security especially in an unsetled state of things is a Symptome of great Danger a Prognostick of perillous Times How easily may a sleeping man be slaine as Alexander slew him whom he found asleep on the watch and well he deserved so sudden a Death who was so secure in a Time of Danger Strange it is that men should sit still in a mindlesse security notwithstanding the great mutations unexpected emergencies various turnings of the wheeles of the Divine Providence which call aloud upon them to minde what great works God is doing in the world and to meet him by Repentance lest he should suddenly destroy them in his wrath Strange it is that men should be secure when contrary winds blow hard upon the great Sea of the world and the mighty Waves dash themselves in pieces one against another When twins do strangely struggle together in the teeming womb of Time and Providences seeme to carry in them Contradictions to the beholders eye When the Times are such as that which the Father describes if we take his Observations in a Political sense For sayes he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Greg. Naz. Orat. 53. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Time is full of Contrarieties of Births and Deaths of the flourishing and plucking up of Plants of curing and killing of building up and breaking down of Houses of weeping and laughing of mourning and dancing Now when the Times are such that the Rise of some is the Fall of others the Glory of some is the Disgrace of others the Joy of some is the Grief of others is it not strange that men should be secure Yea when the Rising of a few shall be the Ruining of many the Enriching of a few shall be the Undoing of many and the Rejoycing of a few shall cause the Lamenting of many are not the Times perillous and is it not strange that men can be secure When the Strong shall be made Weak and the Rich shall become Poore and the Honourable shall be esteemed Base while those that were poore and weak and base shall become Rich and Strong and great in the World are not the Times perillous May we not then say † 1 Cor. 10 12 Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall Is it not strange that at such a Time men can be secure But then does Security much encrease the Danger and make the Times the more perillous How oft have great Armies and Cities living in security been suddenly surprized and destroy'd by a small handful of men Thus Gideon with three hundred men weary hungry and faint went up against the two Kings of Midian Zebah and Zalmunna and their Hosts about fifteen thousand men and vanquisht them and took the two Kings prisoners Thus they discomfited the whole Host for it s said The Host was secure * Judg. 8.11 12. Thus when the Danites spies came to Laish and saw the People that were therein how they dwelt carelesse after the manner of the Zidonians quiet and secure and there was no Magistrate in the Land that might put them to shame in any thing † Judg. 18 7 they made the Report hereof to their brethren that sent them and encouraged them to attempt the Invasion of them saying Arise that we may go up against them for we have seen the Land and behold it is very good and are ye still Be not slothful to go and to enter to possesse the Land When ye go ye shall come unto a People secure and to a large Land for the Lord hath given it into your hands a Place where there is no want of any thing that is in the Earth * Judg. 18 9 10. So six hundred men of the Danites took to them their Armes and came unto Laish unto a People that were at quiet and secure and they smote them with the Edge of the Sword and burnt the City with Fire † Judg. 18 11 27. and so they took their Land unto themselves for an Inheritance Thus security exposes men naked to Danger and opens a wide door to destruction For when they shall say Peace and Safety then sudden Destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with Childe and they shall not escape * 1 Thes 5.3 And therefore sayes the Lord Woe to them that are † So the Marg. Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SECURE in Zion and trust in the mountaine of Samaria which are named chief of the Nations to whom the House of Israel came as to places of Worship Seats of Justice Courts of their Kings Passe ye unto Calneh and see and from thence go ye unto Hemath the great then go down to Gath of the Philistines all of them once great and mighty Cities but now for their sinnes destroy'd and ruin'd so that whatever they sometimes were behold them now and see be they better then these Kingdomes of Judah and Israel or their Border greater

meeting Your New Moons and your appointed Feasts my soul hateth they are a trouble unto me I am weary to bear them And when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when ye make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood Why did the Lord thus disregard all their Ceremonial Services and sacred Solemnities which in the time of the Old Testament he had commanded them Surely for no other reason but because they rested in them and neglected the great and weighty Things of the Law Judgement Mercy and Faith these ought they to have done and not to leave the other undone † Mat. 23 23 So the Lord elsewhere reproves them for their formal Devotion and hypocritical Fasting because they were extreamly defective in that which was the principal Part of their expected Obedience and the choicest Fruit of all such Religious Performances namely Reformation Justice and Charity For sayes the Lord to the Prophet Isaiah * Isa 58.1 2 Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my People their Transgression and the House of Jacob their sins Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my wayes as a Nation that did Righteousness and forsook not the Ordinance of their God they ask of me the Ordinances of Justice they take Delight in approaching to God Who would not judge these to be a very Holy People that should but take notice of this their Diligence in Duties Desires of direction and Delight in drawing nigh unto God But alas how soon may we hear them murmuring against God for not having respect to their services nor regard to their Solemnities as if they had received wrong from God by his not granting what they conceived their Right to them so highly were these proud hypocrites conceited of their poore Performances † v. 3-7 Wherefore have we fasted say they and thou seest not Wherefore have we afflicted our soul and thou takest no knowledge But the Lord replies to their demand and reproves them for their Deceit and Hypocrisie and so instructs them in their Duty Behold sayes the Lord in the Day of your Fast you finde Pleasure and exact all your Labours Behold ye fast for strife and debate and to smite with the Fist of Wickednesse ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your Voice to be heard on high Is it such a Fast that I have chosen a Day for a man to afflict his soul Is it to bow down his head as a Bul-rush and to spread sackcloth and Ashes under him Wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptable Day to the LORD Is not this the Fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of Wickednesse to undoe the heavy Burden and to let the oppressed go free and that ye break every Yoke Is it not to deale thy Bread to the Hungry and that thou bring the Poore that are cast out to thy House When thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own flesh Thus without charity the Master-wheele of good Works the most specious Acts of Religion are unacceptable to God Formality in religion is a kind of spiritual Falshood and Dissimulation 'T is but a Mocking of God a presenting him Leaves for Fruits or Lies for Devotion To offer up unto God formal Performances is to become guilty of real Provocations When the heart is wanting in Duties of Divine Worship men do but offer dead sacrifices to the living God and so provoke the pure Eyes of his Glory When the Glory of the Lord leaves the inward Sanctuary it s a signe of his departure from Jerusalem and a sad Presage of its utter Destruction * See Ezek chap. 1. 11. When the Spirit of God is in a great measure gone from the Hearts of men in the duties of his Worship it s a sad Symptome of perillous Times with the Church of God Before the persecution of the Christians in Africa by the brutish Vandals the Church of God in those Countreys was much degenerated from its ancient Purity and declin'd as to the Power of Godlinesse as Salvian Bishop of Massilia complaines † Vict. Epist Utic So a little before the Massachre at Paris it was observ'd there was such a general stupidity seiz'd upon the Protestants that few of them seriously minded the things of God or were zealously affected with the matters of Religion but were wholely taken up with their worldly Businesses and secular Concernments If Religion amongst men be once degenerated into Farm as a fruitful into a barren Vine what can be expected but that the Righteou●nesse of God should be arm'd with Power for the punishment of such an unprofitable People We know The * Mat. 21.19 barren Fig-tree being curst by Christ presently withered away When a Nation flourishes in the Leaves of Formality without the Fruits of solid Piety who knows how soon it may be cast into a withering condition Surely Formal Services will at length procure real Sufferings The third Symptome Impiety vail'd with Hypocrisie THe Times are perillous When under glorious pretences of Religion and Gods glory men studiously prosecute secular designes When men seek themselves under plausible Pretences of doing Service to God When men that pretend Piety and a Publick Spirit are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 † 2 Tim. 3.2 * v. 4. Such as do in deed preferre their private Interests before the Publick Good with whom Silver is of more value then Sanctity and who pursue their own Honour and Advancement wherein they would seem to promote Gods Glory Hi sunt qui boni videri non esse Mali non videri sed esse volunt † Bernh Serm. 66. in Cant. Th●se are they who as Bernard speaks would be thought good but care not to be so who care indeed bad but would not be thought so They are such as in their Designes row towards Hell while in their Pretences their Faces are towards Heaven They speak of beautifying Sion when at the same time they are Building Babel But now the Times must needs be perillous when men thus pretend Godlinesse and Gods glory for the more easie accomplishment of their own works of Wickednesse to his Dishonour When men Prostitute Religion to their own base Lusts and so vitiate her Virgin-Honour When they cast a vaile of Hypocrisie over the vilest Acts of Impiety Hypocrisie is sin gilded with pretences of Sanctity This outward Gilding makes them not so glorious in the Eyes of men as their inward Guilt m kes them odious in the sight of God Thus the Cloud which arm'd with the Bowe challenges all the world to a Combate for the Beauty of Colours is not more bright to the Earth then its black to Heaven Simulata Aequitas non est Aequitas sed duplex Iniquitas quia Iniquitas est simulatio * August in Psal 23. Equity pretended or