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	zeal_n	zealous_a	133	3	9.4306	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91526	Jewish hypocrisie, a caveat to the present generation. Wherein is shewn both the false and the true way to a nations or persons compleat happiness, from the sickness and recovery of the Jewish state. Unto which is added a discourse upon Micah 6.8. belonging to the same matter. / By Symon Patrick B.D. minister of the word of God at Batersea in Surrey.	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1660 (1660)	Wing P817; Thomason E1751_1; Thomason E1751_2; ESTC R203168	156,691	423

not alwayes so bad in regard of Idolatry and did not in the time of their good Princes compass God about with that deceit but were faithful with the Saints as he saith chap. 11. v. 12. yet they were guilty of the other deceit which was of a very destructive nature as we shall see if we do but consult the rest of the Prophets that lived in the same time with Hosea 2. And the Prophet Isaiah one of the royal family as the Hebrews think and so writes in a most majestick and stately stile of these matters offers himself to be a witness in the very first Chapter of his Vision Where he finds no fault with them for their Idolatry nor questions the legality of their sacrifices nor charges them with neglect of praying to him nor blames them for with-holding of his due oblations from him No on the contrary he acknowledges a multitude of sacrifices of the best and fattest that he was full of burnt-offerings that they observed all their appointed Feasts and solemn meetings and made many prayers to him But then he tells them v. 15. That he could not endure to look upon them when they spread their hands towards heaven because those hands were full of blood And therefore the thing that he calls for is ver 16 17 18. That they would wash and cleanse their hands of that blood which had besmeared them that they would put away their injustice oppression unmercifulness and such like sins And then if they came and prayed to him he would speak friendly to them and have a parlee with them and do away those bloody crimson sins and restore them by their repentance and amendment to a snow like whiteness as if they had been as innocent as Lambs and not so ravenous as Lyons And observe to whom it is that he speaks viz. To the Rulers first who were like to Sodom and then to the people who were not far distant from them in this wickedness being like to Gomorrah ver 9. I say to the Rulers first who had the deepest share in this guilt and were the ring-leaders in these sins as will appear to him that shall but cast his eye upon the 21 22 23 26. verses which I shall forbear to transcribe 3. I will not yet dismiss this witness who speaks so fully and closely to the business before us Be pleased then to consider those woes which he denounces against them that decree unrighteous decrees and write grievousness which they have prescribed to turn aside the needy from judgement and to take away the right from the poor that widdows might be their prey and that they might rob the fatherless chap. 10.1 2. and then tell your selves what sins they were much guilty of To which add chap. 30.12 13. and seriously read the 58. chapter ver 4 6 7. and you will need none to expound to you what reformation it was that he expected upon their fasting-dayes In the 59. chap. likewise he gives us a large description of the temper of this people complaining of these sins as the only cause they were not delivered Behold the Lords hand is not shortened that he cannot save neither is his car heavy that he cannot hear ver 1. that is He can deliver you from Sennacheribs Army as well as from former enemies and is as willing to hear your prayers as ever if he could but hear any good of you But your iniquities have separated between you and your God c. ver 2. You are so monstrously unjust and deceitful unmerciful and cruel as you may read ver 3 4 c. that he cannot but hide his face from you There was nothing but mischievous plots and designs which they had against each other to be found among them They were like a Cockatrice that layes poisonous eggs or like to Spiders that make nets to catch those things that are weaker then themselves ver 5. And if a man did not find out their plot which was laid but did eat of their egg i. e. believed all they said and took them for honest men it was certain death to him and he was utterly undone And if they did smell it out and crushed it then a viper did break forth i. e. they would never endure him but be alwayes vexing of him and seeking to destroy him ib. ver 5. A man could not be safe by any means among his neighbours if he trusted them they would be his ruine if he did not trust them that was pretence enough still to endeavour his ruine Read also ver 13 14 15. of that Chapter and observe that in the 16. ver he saith that he could not find so much as one man that should atone him Not one man whose hands were clean enough from unjust gains and fraudulent dealing to be lifted up to heaven for them And therefore he rose up only out of his own great zeal and for his glory's sake to bring salvation ver 16 17 18. And when the enemies came in like a flood i. e. when Sennacherib with his great hoast over-flowed the Land even as far as the neek which was Jerusalem the Spirit of the Lord lift up a Standard against him ver 19. He that will take the pains duely to consider these places will find so many other bordering upon them to the same purpose that he will be more sensible of the truth of that which I affirm and I shall have occasion to call in the assistance of many of them in other parts of this discourse 4. Let us next hear what information the Prophet Micah will give us concerning this matter who lived in the same time with Isaiah and speaks still more plainly if it be possible so to do against these sins as very predominant in them and their Rulers The Woe in the 2. chap. v. 1 2. which I beseech you read is against those who because they had power in their hands contrived how to greaten themselves though with the ruine of others If they saw but a fair field or house which they coveted it was made a prey to their lust and they took it away by violence though it was the mans inheritance and tended to his utter undoing And though together with him they undid his posterity and together with their bodies brought their souls to ruine yet they sacrificed them all to their covetousness and cast both women and children out of their houses making them thereby become Idolaters Which may be the meaning of that phrase ver 9. From their children have they taken away my glory for ever i. e. by their cruelty they have made them flie to strange Countries and to lose their Religion or they have been the cause of their captivity and carrying into a Land where God was not worshipped Yea so ravenous and greedy were they that they were not ashamed to strip those stark naked and leave them neither upper nor inner garment who were harmless and innocent neither intending wrong to

but be glad they might think that such good friends of his grew rich on any fashion seeing he was not like to lose but to get by it For if you look into Matth. 23. you cannot but observe that they were monstrous extortioners and as full of covetous desires as a drunkards cup is full of drink Besides they were abominably proud undervaluing all men in compare with themselves And so many wayes also they had of disanulling all Gods commands as if by their prayers they had obtained a power from God to wipe and cross what they pleased out of his Law They took God to be so much beholden to them for their pains and sweat in praying to him that they thought he was bound to let them make themselves an amends some other wayes And because it cost them much to be so devout they thought their labour was as pretious with him and that he put the same value upon it In short so little there was in all this devotion that if a man had had a mind to deny himself in little or nothing his best way had been to have put himself into the garb of a Pharisee and buy a grant of God to do what he list by many prayers Which was just as if a man should think by giving his neighbour many good morrows to make him overlook the breaking of his hedges and the stealing of his goods or as if a man should beseech another not to be offended with him though he beat his children and took upon him to do what he listed in his house 4. And such there have been in the Christian world who have delighted in praying and offering up continual petitions to heaven whom the earth could not bear because of their vile and wicked lives As John Basilides Duke of Muscovy whom Dr. Casaubon instances in who loved to be continually upon his knees and lifting up his hands to God when they were not employed in some butcherous and bloody action or other And Hacket here in England in the dayes of Queen Elizabeth of whom Saravia saith that he seemed to have a divine heat in him when he prayed though it is known to all the world with what wild fires he was acted For there is a natural ardor may do much this way as that Doctor speaks or rather a Religious melancholy as Mr. More hath shewn in his excellent Treatise of Enthusiasm For that humour will work and boil up even to an Exstasie and where it meets with some spice of Religion it may do strange feats by way of devotion Ignatius the Jesuites tell us was sometimes lifted up four cubits above the ground when he was at prayer and he might possibly seem to himself so to be if that be true which Eunapius reports of Jamblicus how that when he was a praying Eunap in vita Jambl. V. etiam in vita Aedesii he was heaved up from the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above ten cubits and his rayment seemed to shine with a brightness like to gold But above all I desire the Reader to take notice of what Theodoret saith of the Mossaliani or Prayers that they used to do nothing else and would not follow any calling but when they did not pray they fell asleep L. 4. Eccles hist cap. 10. L. 4. haeret fab cap. 11. And then they thought that they beheld Visions and could prophesie and saw the sacred Trinity with their eyes They said that there was an evil spirit in all men which must be cast out by prayers and then the holy Spirit of God comes in after which there was no need of fasting for to humble the body nor of any doctrine or teaching which bridles and guides the motion of the body but the Spirit doth all One egg is not more like another then those men were like them among us who say they are above all Ordinances They feel some heat in their hearts when they pray and they are lifted up in some kind of pious thoughts by the strong workings of their own melancholy fancies and then they think that this is to them instead of all other things so that the Lords Supper is but a carnal Feast and the Scriptures themselves are but dead letters and Ministers are but School-masters for children and fools 5. So much of the Pharisee is still among us that it would make any godly soul blush to see what foul things are done by those that make very fair pretences to God in their prayers The measure of which many times is length and loudness many words and much heat whilest there is no true spiritual life and sense of God which breaths forth their souls unto him Men care not to be as long in confessing of their sins as they intend to be in leaving of them if it will but pass current for Religion They will pray for forgiveness of their sins as often as God pleases so they may but have leave when they see occasion to commit them They will call for that strength and power which they never mean to use for that Spirit of holiness which they would not have so kind as to come and trouble them in their enjoyments They pray for that light which they would not have to look too broad in their faces for that purity and sanctity which they will bestow no more upon then a prayer to obtain and if they knew what they prayed for they would be loth to have an Answer They beg that comfort the spring of which they would be loth should dwell within them that righteousness of Christ which they would have to cover all their filthiness and keep them warm in their sins that blood of Jesus which should quench the fiery indignation which they say but think not that their sins do deserve 6. And yet I have told you the best of this sort of Religionists for there are that think they shall be heard for their much babling and are little better then heathenish worshippers They are rude and sensless in their Tautologies without any real and unforc't affection Their prayers are a confused indigested heap of words rash and bold expressions irreverent and unbecoming addresses to the glorious majesty of heaven fulsome and nauseating language savouring of an unprepared though hasty careless though confident mind They are measured by the glass and must be stretched though by heathenish repetitions i. e. without any order or handsom zeal to such a certain length And if a childish tone like that when they say their lessons can help out these devotions it is accounted a great token of good affection and a sign that a man is more then ordinarily moved If the voice likewise be loud sonorous most people are apt to think the heavens will hear those prayers sooner then others as coming from the greatest zeal and fervency of Spirit But all good Christians whose hearts are in their prayers feel that the sence of Gods Glory as well as his

Goodness fills their souls Which makes them modest and humble blushing and bashfull before his face reverent and composed solemn and sedate in their speech unto him Serious in their zeal and zealous in their repetitions understand in what they ask and earnestly desirous to receive it And above all they know that an holy life is most pleasing unto God whereby they do continually bespeak his favour and are alwayes sending up Orators to the throne of grace to bring down more blessings upon them 7. And if any one have a list to enquire into the bottom of this deceit I believe he will find that many mens prayers are but a piece of Art which they have learnt by imitation of others whose language and affection they most admired from whom they have borrowed such feeling expressions as won their souls to some endeavours to be like them I have sometimes thought that an hypocrite is rather a counterfeit of a Christian then of Christ for he doth not so much shape himself according to what he reads of him as what he sees in them He is but their Ape and never more discovers himself then when he labours to imitate their zeal and to come up to the height of their piety As Apes are never more like themselves then when they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Lucian somewhere speaks put on the face and garb of Noble men so the higher strains of devotion they endeavour to personate the more their affectation and fulsome forcedness appears Or as the deeper any women paint the more plainly is their dissembled complexion seen so the more colours these men lay on and the greater ruddiness of zeal they would attain unto the more is their ugliness revealed and the false beauty of their holiness laid open to the world As it is in those Meteors which they call parelia when two Suns appear together besides the great light of heaven Cap. 13. nat quaest the one saith Seneca is simulacrum Solis the picture or image of the Sun the other is simulacrum imaginis the picture or image of the eimage so it is in this case a good man is the image of Christ the Sun of righteousness but an hypocrite is only the image of the good man not of Christ having only a picture of his righteousness And yet these pictures and images of Christians may seem to some to excell the coppy and be more admired then good and religious people As a picture in a room is by Art so drawn that it seems to look upon every one in it on whatsoever side you stand whereas a living man doth look but one way so these artificial pieces have a more notable way of looking graciously upon the multitude then real Christians have who appear most lovely to those that have the spirit of life ruling in them 8. And if these Artists have an active fancy and a natural heat it will much promote their good opinion of themselves because their devotions will be beyond the vulgar strain For a quick fancy can administer very apt words and fluent expressions that shall not justle one against another but run off very smoothly and there is a kind of charm in dainty words well put together which roll off the tongue without any rub in their way The natural heat also when it makes the animal spirits boil and leap up to a great height can produce some affections and passions answerable to that sreedom of language which will have still more of ravishment and transportation in it By the power of Imagination likewise being thus heated and chafed unusual thoughts may be raised up and the mind may be filled with new notions which men may take to be an argument of their being under the power of the Spirit and their praying without a form may seem to them to be a token of the power of godliness But when this heat abates and they cease to be tickled with such affections then these men grow pittifull creatures and have no religion at all unless they can comfort themselves with what they hear others also talk of that they are under desertion and make this as much a sign of grace as they did their former enlargements 9. It must likewise be considered that the beginning and continuance of this devotion is to be imputed to the natural conscience which men have of some duty owing unto God and of some recompense that they stand bound to make him for their neglects of it Though this conscience when it is once awakned cannot be satisfied unless they do something to please him yet it rests commonly in that which is easie and agrees best with their natural dispositions and least contradicts their inbred lusts and desires Now where there is that nimble fancy which I spoke of and that voluble tongue and spirits that can soon take fire by any motion there is nothing more accommodated to the end of giving them satisfaction then prayer because such people are naturally forward to talk and can both with ease and pleasure make long speeches unto God And when they have prayed themselves into a good opinion of their holiness and favour with God then as soon as their morning devotions are past they may securely lie all day long in hatred malice covetousness injustice and such like sins as though they had consecrated and craved a blessing upon all their Actions Lib. 1. Essayes chap. 56. And so Mount aigne tells us that there was a young Prince who when he went about any leud and unchaste design would alwayes go into that Church which was in his way both as he went and as he returned from his filthiness this was told him by a great person as an instance of special and singular devotion But let any impartiall man tell me saith he to what purpose he invoked and called on God for his divine favour having his mind wholly bent to sin and his thoughts set on lasciviousness And yet thus it is every man calls upon God it matters not for what the covetous the ambitious the theef all pray God to succeed their enterprises which is just as if a Cut-purse should call in justice for his aid and as if we should call God to witness to a lie And there he adds this golden saying Verily it seemeth that we make no other use of our prayers then of a company of gibberish phrases or as those that imploy holy and sacred words about witchcraft and magical effects and that we magine their effect dependeth on the contexture or sound or succession of words or on our countenance For mans soul being full fraught with lusts and nothing touched with repentance they headlong present unto him those heedless words that memory affordeth their tongue by which they hope to obtain an expiation of all their offences 10. I shall hereunto annex briefly another way of deceiving mens selves which is by a whining puling kind of religion that many have taken up I