Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	ghost_n	holy_a	mind_n	7,027	5	5.7568	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51817	A sermon concerning publick worship preached before the Queen on Wednesday the 23d of March, 1691/2 / by Thomas Manningham ...	Manningham, Thomas, 1651?-1722.	1692 (1692)	Wing M499; ESTC R3514	10,669	35

attending upon God in the Publick Service of the Church than to affect new Ways and new Liberties and such singularities of Holiness as will make People more Fanciful but less Humble and Devout What can a Christian want towards the real Edification of his Soul in Faith and Knowledge in Vertue and Godliness who makes a Conscience of Attending the Publick Assemblies as often as he reasonably can For there he shall meet with the pure Word of God and feel the mighty Efficacy of it on his Heart his Mind shall be many times more enlightned by attentively hearing a Chapter read in the Church than if he had industriously consulted the best Commentators The Majesty of the Place the Authority of him who Officiates and the Sense we have that God is speaking to us are apt to put our Thoughts into such a Religious Frame that we have as it were a New-understanding created in us And besides the Holy Spirit loves to go along with his own Ordinance in some peculiar Vouchsafements The devout * Psal 73. Prophet could not well understand some of the Dissibulties about Providence 'till he went into the Sanctuary of the Lord but that soon gave him a sufficient knowledge of them and what is more a Contentment under them too True Christian Knowledge does not come in so sound and so useful by hand Study as by having a Temper fit to receiver it and we have many times a Divine Truth more strongly imprinted on our Minds or more fully confirm'd unto us when our Hearts are Tender and Devout then when our Heads are exercis'd in the deepest Thinking It is further observable That Men are generally much more subject of Impressions and Affections when they are Assembled then when they are Alone and this holds good in relation to Sacred as well as to Civil Affairs Thus in the Church or in our Publick Devotions besides the direct Influence which we singly feel we then receive a Collateral enforcement from that Union of Consent which we observe in others and which may be easily and quickly known because the very Gestures of the Body the Tone and Accents of the Voice and the different Appearances of the Countenance are a sort of Vniversal Character which naturally express the more prevailing Passions and inward Sentiments of the Soul and therefore we are encourag'd more freely to indulge those Religious Affections which we find are no Singularities of our own particular Complexion but such as are common to all People whenever they are truly sensible of the Majesty of God and of the power of Religion But further The Publick Offices of the Church are such an equal Nourishment so well-prepar'd and so kindly fitted for all the wants of a Devout Worshipper that if they be constantly made use of they will not fail of bringing us to a strong habit of Piety There may be other ways of Devotion more gratifying to the Fancy but not so productive of sincere Godliness They who are content with the wise Methods of the Church shall be gradually rais'd into a Divine Life as their other Graces increase their Humility shall be equally enlarg'd and their Zeal shall never out-run their meek Obedience Though they feel no Extraordinary Transports for the very Custom of doing Good things will go near to lessen those yet they shall not fail of a lasting and an abiding Comfort and though they do not rise into Holiness with any Luxuriant Growth yet they shall have a sound Proficiency for they shall encrease with the Encrease of God The true Improvement in Christianity does not lye in any singular and affected Austerity of Life scrupulousness of Mind Unquietness of Zeal separated Sanctity or in reaching after such Spiritual Heights as are beyond the proportion of Humanity but it lyes in a temperate humble serious and wise deportment of our selves in a Constancy of Duty a Regular Piety a Condescending Brotherly Mildness of Soul in an Extensive Charity and a Sincere Concern for the welfare of all Mankind And this is the very Improvement towards which all the Publick Offices of the Church seem to conspire for they are apt to fill our Minds with the most Aweful Sense of the exceeding Majesty of God and with the most Humbling Thoughts of our own Unworthiness They are fitted to work in us the Obedience of Creatures and the Humiliation of Sinners to raise and enlarge our Affections with proper Forms of Praises and Thanksgivings and to extend our Hearts in Supplications and Intercessions for others Add to all this That our Publick Worship is a True Spiritual Sacrifice to God which no Private Prayers or Praises can be though otherwise of Excellent use for 't is the Nature of all Sacrifice to be an Open Bishop Laney on Hebr. xiii vers 15. External and Publick Acknowledgment and therefore the solemn performance of This is a distinct Vertue from all other Acts of Obedience and of a different Obligation from all other Duties Those of the most Improved Minds can never be excused from Offering up this peculiar Sacrifice and those of the meanest Attainments may comfort themselves in discharging this Necessary Homage to God for certainly it must needs be a wonderful satisfaction to any good Man when he reflects that he has done something that is acceptable and well-pleasing to him who is able to reward him with endless Glory To conclude Private Prayer is the best Argument of our own Sincerity but Publick Prayer of our open Confession of God The first may be perform'd by the Heart alone and the inward Motions of the Soul but the other requires the Reverend Deportment of the Body and the Attestation of the Voice to glorifie our Maker By the one we best declare the Omniscience and Spiritual Nature of God and by the other his Greatness his Majesty and his Power Let this therefore be our constant Rule in all our Publick Devotions to have ever an especial regard to the Life and Soul to the Spirit and Truth of God's Worship to enliven all our outward Actions and Demeanour with the holy Intentions of the Mind and the devout Affections of the Heart and to make all those Ceremonies and Decencies which our Church has either innocently Retain'd or prudently Instituted to be as Instrumental to our Spiritual Worship as we can possibly make them and not to run into such vain Fancies as if the Gospel were an Enemy to Bodily Worship or that were too gross a way of Honouring God Alas all our most Inward and Refined Worship of Soul and Spirit can never reach the Dignity the Majesty and the Spirituality of That God we Adore but in its highest Exaltation is Unequal and Imperfect and can find no Acceptance with God but thorough the Infinite Merits of his Son What are all the sublimest Acts of the Soul when imploy'd in the Worship of God but Ignorance Blindness and meer Disparagements of his Glory when we consider the Transcendency of the Divine Nature though as it proceeds from us it be an honest and a well-meant Service And now since God has given us Bodies as well as Souls we have no reason to conceive otherwise but that he requires to be Honour'd by Both according to that State and Condition of Nature in which we are Constituted and that Order of the Creation in which we are plac'd for what can we do more than Glorifie the Almighty in those Capacities he has given us Let the Seraphim and Cherubim and the Angels that are round his Throne bless him and praise him in their more Exalted way and with the pure Emanations of the Mind but let us Magnify God with that with which they cannot viz. with the lowest Prostration of our Bodies too Accept most mighty God that Tribute of Worship which thou hast enabled us to perform and when thou givest us New Powers they also shall be employ'd to magnify thy great and wonderful Name All the Glory which we can give thee is but the Reflection of that Light which thou doest first dart on us and when thou takest us nearer thy Presence we shall then more perfectly Reflect thy Image Since thou hast design'd a most Glorious Resurrection for our Bodies we may conclude that they also shall bear a part in that most spiritual Worship which shall be paid thee in the highest Heavens to all Eternity and since thou hast consecrated even these Corruptible Bodies of ours into the Temples of the Holy Ghost thou wilt not disdain that Present Worship which they now can pay We will therefore Glorify thee with our Souls and with our Bodies because thou hast Created and Redeemed them both we will constantly pay thee an External Bodily Homage but such as shall be Animated with the Mind and the Spirit without which we cannot truly Worship Thee who art an Infinite Mind an Infinite Spirit Let us always remember what a zealous Concern the Humble and Meek Jesus shew'd against the Prophaners of the Temple and when we enter into the House of Prayer let us lay aside all our Worldly Cares least we make it a House of Merchandise let us not come with any Covetous Vnjust or Malicious Designs least we make it a Den of Thieves But let the Sacredness of the Place and the Weightiness of the Business we come about which is no less than the Glorifying of God and the Saving of our Souls Let these Considerations fill us with Holy Thoughts and Affections and compose us to such a Reverent Behaviour as may best express the Humility and Seriousness the Love the Joy and all the Inward Piety of our Souls FINIS