Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	glory_n	image_n	lord_n	8,288	5	5.1695	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30337	A discourse on the memory of that rare and truely virtuous person Sir Robert Fletcher of Saltoun who died the 13 of January last, in the thirty ninth year of his age / written by a gentleman of his acquaintance.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1665 (1665)	Wing B5778; ESTC R37517	24,758	193

Lands designed and marked only in his Conceit But he choosed rather to Mantle over that which he knew by a Shadow than to pretend to that which he had not In fine rare was it to see so much Worth vailed under so much Humility Which keeped him so from the Knowledge of Others but most of all from himself Yet as the Sun beams when stopped in their even course and refracted in a Cloud do appear in that rare Contexture of Light and Shadow the Rainbow so the Vail of Humility though it a little interrupted yet it had not the force to keep up the Glancing light of that shining Soul but rather as a Shadowed Picture appeared he with advantage And as the rare endewments of his Mind did not intoxicate him so the Virtues of his Soul however valued by others were ever counted few and mean by himself For he had Perfection in his eye His Aimes Designs stooping no lower Whence the recurring defects of the daily imperfections which annoyed him in his Pilgrimage represented alwayes himself in the blackest shape disdain could set him in And there was nothing more grating to his Ears than his own praises Is there not then a Prince and a great Man fallen this day in Israel The Soul of Man being by the Power of the Divine Spirit rescued from the bondage of Corruption is brought into the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God For these staining Tinctures of Passion Lust and Pride are not done of that He should continue as a whited Wall or a Fleece of Wool Nor are these Divels only cast out that the house be empty Sweeped and Garnished No we need not fear so great preparations shall end in Nothing We are uncloathed of our Filthy Garments in lieu whereof we receive Change of Raiment And the Treats of the Image of God are drawn on the Soul Thus the Mind is Transform'd by that Participation of the Divine Nature whereby it is united and knit unto God with that bond of Perfection Love which having consum'd all that fewel of Lust and Vanity which had so long smothered the Divine Life but becoming Victorious it inflameth the whole Pile and offereth it up in one Burnt-offering to God And the Soul being agitated by the Love of God shed abroad in it as by an Active Principle of Life is ever in its Desires and Meditations mounting thither where it hopes to be for ever Our Saviour compared this establishment of the Minde on God to Hungering and Thirsting Which is not caused by Reason but by Life Thus the Supream Exaltation of the Soul is in being so fixed on God that we need not be jogged up to it by Arguments but by a natural and unforced emanation of Spirit to be ever Breathing after and Panting for Communion with God This is to have our Fellowship with the Father and with the Son To place our whole Affiance and Confidence on God who through the Mediation of his Son is become Our Mercifull and Gracious Father To bestow on him the Supremacy of our Love and Affections and by uncessant Motions to be springing towards Him Thus the Soul maugre the Load of its Body that separateth it so far from Heaven will not be delayed of its Glory untill Vnbodied but will be snatching the Summer-fruits even before Harvest come Which though they be not ripened to the delectableness of Angels-food yet that Antepast of Glory will yeeld the Mind such sweet Solaces and Pleasures so Sublime and Highly Divine as will beget a Loathing of the most unmixed Delights Earth can afford For that Original sin that they be of the Earth will sufficiently discredite them The Soul having now found an Object that will both deserve and attract its more Fixed Thoughts With what silent Admiration will it be considering these Divine Adorable Excellencies wherewith the Glorious Lord God is cloathed as with a garment which will sometimes choak them to a stillnesse next to Ecstasie and at other times will burst forth in Halelujahs and Thanksgivings Could we trace the steps and Sacred Soliloquies of a Devout Spirit in those blessed retreats it makes from the Loud disturbances of the World into the Presence of Him who is its Hiding place and strong Habitation whereunto it will continually resort We should see it with delight sum up all the passages of the Power Providence and Goodnesse of God whereby it rouseth it self and all that is in it To blesse his Holy Name and to forget none of his Benefits And if the World offer it self to its View It will quickly say with S. Paul These things that before were gain to me are now become losse through Christ. Yea doubtless I count all things but losse for the Excellency of the Knowledge of Iesus Christ my Lord. Yea I will account them but dung that I may win Christ. Thus are the Meditations of God sweet unto it Neither is this only the Holy-dayes Imployment of the Soul For God doth not come to a Soul as a way-faring Man to tarry for a night But he dwelleth and abideth in it The Soul is Acted Moved and Directed by Him in all its goings And when its Station to which God hath commanded it in the world calls it from these immediate Adorations it resolves quickly to return again and leaves the Heart with God in Pawn So that however it may be busied yet all passionate fervour is blunted and quenched And it is so exactly regulated by the Divine Will into which its own is changed that it Cares Desires Joyes and Sorrows for Nothing Earthly But all the Methods and Steps of the Divine Providence are by it judged to be both Wise Good and Just as flowing from an unerring Skill an unchanged Goodnesse and a spotlesse Iustice. Therefore in Patience doth it possesse it self and with an Unreserved Submission equally welcomes as well the Ebbings as the Flowings of Earthly Satisfactions As being none of them of a nature capable of promoting or retarding that Happinesse it expects and desires from God alone Thus with open face as in a Glasse beholding the Glory of the Lord we are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. The Order of this Discourse doth call for the Applying what hath been spoken to the Glorified Saint that hath now left us In doing whereof several Instances must be disclosed which in his life were unknown to all save to his other self his Friends His Soul was even fraughted with adoring and Magnifying thoughts of his Maker His Frequent and Fervent entertaining himself with Divine Meditations did let us all know wherein he placed his Happinesse Every day many Hours of his Time were spent in the Outer Court of Heaven in those approaches to God No Company was so bewitching as to make him forget him who had inhanced all his desires and delights But when the entertainment of Friends did seem to hinder him from that Imployment yet still He either

Tepidity of Mind in the Service and Converse with God And in stead of all This it Enters Heaven Where it is received and welcomed by Innumerable Companies of Angels and Spirits of Iust men made perfect and is by them led into the Presence of that King of Saints Who is Glorious in Holinesse whose Majestick Greatness being then clearly discovered by the Purified Soul will occasion the greatest Transports of Ioy the Rational Nature is capable of For We shall then see with the Evidence of Sense the Brightnesse of the Fathers Glory the only begotten Son of God whom while on Earth we behold in the Obscurity of Faith Believe me This Glory were too dazling a sight to us while we are in the Body Moses when he saw but the Outside of the Divine Glory yet such a Brightnesse from that Passing View was imprinted in his Looks that he must needs vail himself What Eye could then behold an Vnvailed God And if a Passing Sight of that Exalted Prince did so swallow up the Spirit of the Apostle of the Gentiles What could resist the Ecstasies and Ruptures a Fixed Looking on the Sun of Righteousnesse would occasion If the One made S. Paul forget his Body T'other would have made him abandon it But in Glory those Ravishing Objects shall not consternate the Beholders into a languishing faintnesse but being Transformed it will Rouse them into a Vigorous Activity and Sprightfulnesse of Blessing Adoring Loving and Rejoycing in their Maker that Fountain of Life And this by no Short or Passing Returns but by a Constant Efflux of Soul So the Creature is wholly swallowed up of and overwhelmed by the Vision of its Creator Now into the Number of that Coelestial Quire is received the Soul of Him who while on Earth having seen the Glory of that Land which is a far of and tasting some of the Grapes of Canaan did Run his race with joy and Pressed forward toward the mark even the Prize of the high Calling of God in Iesus Christ. And having now finish'd his Course he hath entered into His Masters joy and and hath received that Crown of Righteousnesse which is Incorruptible and fadeth not away Now being uncloathed of all Dulnesse and Frailty doth his Soul as an unsullied Mirrour yeeld a bright Reflexion of that Uncreated Light with whose beams he is irradiated And in that Purest Light of Divine Illumination doth he see light seeing Him that is Invisible If an Vnknown Saviour did by a Secret Influence warm the hearts of the two Disciples while He talked with them Sure then the Hearts of this Disciple is now inflamed with Love and Zeal while He closely embraceth and Immediately converseth with an Vnmasked Redeemer O how much doth He rejoyce and blesse himself in the Possession of that Glory the meanest degree whereof he preferreth to the Empire of the World What Hallelujahs is he now singing With what delight doth He keep his Part in those Heavenly Anthems With what Pleasure feels he himself beyond the Assaults of Corruption How doth it Rejoyce him that He needs no further Incentive of the Love of God and that no Cloud doth disturb or darken the Excellent and Magnificent Glory no Drowsinesse of Mind doth steal him into sleep For there is no Night above But day and night do they see the Face of God Know ye not then there is a Great Man raised up this day in the New Ierusalem It followeth to be Considered Where hath this Great man fallen Even in Scotland our Israel A Nation of which it may well be doubted Whither its Mercies or Ingratitude be greatest And though at some time it might have compared with any round about being barren in nothing but the Soil But now indeed the case is altered To instance it in one thing It not the Power of Godliness whose Effects should be a Reformation of our Spirits into a Likeness and Conformity with our Glorious Master and Redeemer turned into Formes and Words With what violence and eagernesse may we daily see Inconsiderable and Controverted Opinions pressed and advanced What severe Censurings bitter Reproaches and scurrilous Invectives are we daily forced to hear And we are become so keen on such stuff that the Great and Indispensable Precepts of the Law of Jesus Holinesse Charity and Obedience are counted but mean and sorry Doctrines What Triumphs are made upon the Failings and Errours of those that differ in Opinion though such had no truth in them and are but the Forgeries of Gall and Despite And how well pleased are we when we get the Inglorious Advantage of Crushing and Ruining These whom Blind Zeal tinctured with Malice and Revenge makes us account our Enemies Thus for all our Canting if one should give a judgment of us by our Lives and Conversations He should not miss of calling us Christned Heathens We are called Christians and professe our selves to be such and do wisely in so doing for there is Nothing that would make any suspect us guilty of Religion save our Outside Are we not Covetous Proud Passionate and Self-conceited Thus have we flatly contradicted the Great Design of the Gospel Which Doctrine was proclaimed to the World by the Wisedome of God not to disturb our heads with Harsh and unprofitable Questions But to Prick our hearts with a sorrow and hatred of Sin Not to make us Talk big But to Live Sublimely and to become like unto his Glorious Self Yea How degenerate by such work are we become and what Loathing this hath begot of the great Truths of Religion in the Hearts of our Supernumerary Gentry I should rather mask with a silent Sorrow than with a Brisk Forwardnesse discover the Nakedness of my Parent my Countrey But their detestable and impious Lives their Irreligious and Blasphemous scoffing at Piety and Holinesse and their daily falling off to the Superstitions and Idolatry of the Church of Rome do give too evident a testimony what kind of Cattel they are Neither hath this contagion only corrupted the Morals of this People but their very Spirits are become mean and sordid And how receptive their Vitiated Minds are of the worst impressions may appear from the Great footing that French Contagion of Atheism more to be abominated even then the sicknesse which goeth under that name hath among us The furious wits of some rampant Hectors who having immersed themselves into all brutalism and apostatized from that God-like nature conceive the deepest hatred against the adored Deity and with a monstruous arrogance proclaim an open feud against God and Religion And if they can with Blustring and Sophistry elude those arguments where with some lesse experienced with their cursed Arts do assail them and with a wide-mouthed impudence run down the Modester Thence do they conceit themselves the only sons of Wisdom of whom I dare boldly pronounce that in themselves we have the greatest Instance of their so eagerly contended for principle that a man hath no real Preheminence over or