Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	good_a	jesus_n	lord_n	7,172	5	3.5622	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61463	A thanksgiving sermon preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Court of Aldermen, sheriffs, and companies of the city of London at St. Mary-le-bow, April 16, 1696, upon occassion of His Majesty's deliverence from a villanous assassination in order to a French invasion by William Stephens ...	Stephens, William, d. 1718.	1696 (1696)	Wing S5465; ESTC R14197	18,938	34

was held as a Maxim of State during the happy Reign of Queen Elizabeth of ever blessed Memory viz. That England should always make it self the Head and Protection of the whole Protestant Interest Our Christian Church or Nation call it which you please saw it self particularly oblig'd to this undertaking by the especial Providence of God which furnished us with that Strength Wealth happy Situation and Fertile Soyl which rendred us the Envy and Terrour of Antichrist And hence was it that our Church looked upon her self in relation to other Protestant Churches as the Elder Sister in the Family who being grown up to greater Strength and Abilities than the rest dischargeth the part of a Mother in giving her Assistance to the Younger and more tender Branches of that Houshould By pursuing this Pious State Maxim Englands Glorious Queen made her self the Nursing Mother of the whole Gospel-Reformation hereby she gave check to the power of Babylon and by making all true Protestants i.e. all true Christians her Friends she enabled England to make good her Oldest Maxim of State which was To keep the ballance of Europe equal and steady From whence it is evident if the Line which Succeeded that great Queen had Religiously pursued the Holy Politick of her Reign Europe had never heard of the overgrown greatness of France much less submitted to those Barbarous Insolencies which some places now groan under Nor had England at this day been startled by Popish Cut-throats who were to prepare the way for a French Invasion So that our Allies of the Roman Communion must allow this Protestant Maxim to be truly Catholick because their safety from the Power of France was wrapped up in it together with our own And hence it may be discern'd who amongst us are truest Protestants and best English-men Those who endeavour to heal up all Differences amongst Christian Churches who are willing to join with them in bonds of Affection as Fellow-members of the same Houshold of Faith or those who by vilifying all Foreign Reformations and all other Communions but their own divide the Body of Christ and the Affections of Christian Churches from one another From what hath been said also 't is evident that the Body of Anti-Christ can be no part of that One Body mentioned in my Text and no more within the perview of our Christian Law of Charity than Turks and Infidels I have read in the Turkish Alcoran some honourable mention of Jesus the Son of Mary but tho' the Mahometans join with us in paying some fort of Respect to our Saviour yet since they pay a greater Deference to their own Prophet and an intire submission to his Laws and since their Laws have inspir'd them with the Genius and Spirit of their Prophet which never faileth to exert itself in the highest degrees of Rage and Malice against all who profess an intire subjection to the Lord Jesus I do not remember that the Mosque hath ever been owned as a branch of the Christian Temple And altho' the State-politick Confederacy of Rome erect Temples and Altars to Christ tho more to his Mother yet in as much as they pay a more profound Respect to their own High Priest and the Laws which he hath confirmed and since the Genius and Spirit of those Laws is so directly opposed to the good Spirit of the Gospel that there is no Rebellion or Insurrection so bloody no Murder or Massacre so cruel no Conspiracy or Assassination so base and barbarous but what the Spirit of Popery not only alloweth but injoyneth in Opposition to those who own no High-Priest but the Lord Jesus it cannot easily be comprehended how the Mass-house should be any part of the Christian Church altho' the Papists assume to themselves in exclusion of all others the Sacred Name of Christians And in this they are follow'd by their Adherents among us tho' of another Denomination who chuse to serve Baal for the sake of Jehovah and to preserve our holy Christian Church in its original Purity joyn themselves to Antichrist This is indeed a Combination without precedent the Fundamental of their Faith is Contradiction and their Principles would best have been explained by the Philosopher who read Lectures concerning the blackness of Snow I have heard of a crazed Friar the fore-runner of these men who made his Prayer to God to reconcile himself to the Devil in order to establish Peace in the world just as this sort of Men assist French Dragoons into the Kingdom Popish Cut-throats into the Court and the late Subverter of our Religion and Laws into the Throne and all this in order to support the Church of England which Church does therefore cast them out as Apostates from her Communion But if there shall be found within the pale of our holy Church any Abettors of these Adherents who shall still be disputing our gracious King William's Right to the Brittish Throne who by divine Assistance first recovered and does still support all the Rights of these Kingdoms tho' this sort of men take great pains to sequester themselves from our Christian Charity yet I trust that God in his great mercy will continue to blast all the designs of Antichrist confound the Stratagems of Rome discover the Treacheries of France and prosper the Arms of our Rightfull and Lawfull Sovereign King William that his happy Success and our secure Settlement may be even to these men as a divine Illumination IV. The fourth general Head was the great motive to Christian Charity which in the Text is taken from our obligation to thankfulness be ye thankfull We cannot reflect upon any one reason which engageth us to be thankfull to God but what obligeth us to Charity towards one another Our Creation Preservation Redemption Means of Grace Hopes of Glory and all the Blessings of this Life for which we give daily Thanks are either common Bonds of Union or Talents to be employ'd for common good But how particular a motive to mutual Charity the wonderfull Deliverance which God hath so lately wrought doth assord us will appear if we consider the Particulars thereof so far forth as they have already been discovered as first The Deliverance of a Life as dear to us as the breath of our Nostrils from a barbarous Assassination and secondly Of our Nation from an unnatural Insurrection in order to assist a French Invasion All the parts of this Conspiracy were linked together in one Chain the Assassination was to facilitate the Insurrection the Insurrection to make way for the Invasion and all this in order to a French Conquest If any private person hath received injury from another there is in all civiliz'd Countries a Law and Court of Judicature from whence the Appellant may receive a Recompence so that there is no room left for any private Revenge much less for that which is in the highest degree barbarous as is an Assassination upon the meanest person If a difference ariseth between Sovereign Princes their

temper of Mind which sweetens all our Actions both to our selves and others whereby we cast a favourable Eye upon what we discern in other men being critical chiefly to find out the Beauty of every good Thought and the Graces which attend the Words and Actions of others This Moderation of Spirit towards men is called the Peace of God because 1. 'T was the Great Design for which he made us who are uncapable of bringing any advantage to him that we should be kind to one another And 2. To the same end he Redeemed us that being made Members of one Body we should be more particularly sensible of each others condition And 3. To this end he sendeth his Holy Spirit into our Hearts to allay all Heat and Bitterness and Evil Zeal to bridle our Passions and moderate our Desires thereby setling the Peace of God in our Hearts Let this Peace Rule saith the Apostle The word Rule in its Original beareth relation particularly to the Office of a Judge or Umpire who by his Sentence pronounced doth rule or determine any Case which is referred to his Arbitration The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beareth relation to the old Olimpick Games wherein men strove to outvy each other in manly Exercises that they might gain a reward which was provided for him who shew'd the greatest degree of Manhood Now when any controversie arose between Competitors for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or reward there was a Judge a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appointed who should by his award over-rule and decide the Competition And the word Rule in the Text doth signifie that particular Award and is therefore restrained to a Rule of Court by which Causes are determined The Doctrine then arising from the Text will be this viz. A Charitable condescending temper of mind is the best Judge of all Controversies the best Moderator and Vmpire of all Differences and Disputes or in short Charity is the best Court of Chancery In pursuing this Subject I shall endeavour 1. To set forth the Truth of this Doctrine in such a manner as may best recommend it to our practice 2. To set forth the Rules of this Court by which she governs her Judgment And 3. To shew how far the Jurisdiction of this Court extendeth viz to all Christians who are called in one body 4. To shew that all the reasons which oblige us to be thankful to God particularly the occasion of this present Solemnity do enforce this Duty upon us For so the last words of the Text be ye thankful may be understood as a Motive to us to let the peace of God rule in our hearts I. Now a judgment of Charity for the determination of Controversies cannot more effectually be recommended to us than 1. From the Example of God 2. From the consideration of our Selves And 3. From the particular Felicity of this sort of Judicature 1. From the Example of God himself who hath usually in this Method put an end to those Controversies which have arose betwixt Mankind his weak peevish Creature and himself our great and good Creator If we look back to the Creation as described in the Book of Moses we read that God bestowed the whole World upon Mankind only reserving a small peculiar to himself for a tryal of Man's obedience if he would satisfie himself with his own Portion and restrain his Appetite at God's Command We read also that from Man's indulging his Appetite and not ruling it by his Reason arose the first Controversie betwixt him and his God But this Breach was soon made up by Divine condescention God did not exact the Life of Man on the day of his Transgression And tho' he condemned him to labour yet he allowed him to get Bread thereby and an Appetite to relish the Sweetness of it He still held forth the Lights of Heaven to direct him from without and the Light of Reason to guide him from within And to crown all he revealed to him the way how he should regain that state of Immortal Happiness from whence he had fallen Another instance of this nature we read in the case of Lot who being forewarned of the Judgment falling upon Sodom and directed to fly to the Neighbouring Hills yet he contests with God the place of refuge and will accept only of one of his own choosing Gen. 19.15 17. Arise said the Angel of God take thy wife and thy daughters and escape to the mountains lest thou be consumed to which kind admonition Lot's answer is O not so my Lord c. and insists upon Zoar to be the place of his refuge and this Controversie was soon ended by God's condescention v. 18. See I have accepted thee concerning this thing But 3ly What man was ever obliged by God in a higher manner than Moses who was designed his Special Ambassador to Egypt there to discharge the true Character of an Hero in being the Deliverer of his Countrymen from slavery For this Office God qualified him with the power of working Miracles thereby setting the Broad-Seal of Heaven to his Commission and promising also to assist him with such Eloquence as should become the Message which he was to deliver yet after all Moses peremptorily refuseth to obey these honourable Commands Exod. 4.13 14. saying to God Send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send This Answer did indeed kindle the anger of the Lord against Moses but his Compassion allay'd his Anger and soon after he confirmeth him in his Commission and strengthneth him with the assistance of his Brother Aaron v. 15 16. Towards whom we likewise read a signal instance of God's condescention in healing up a wide breach made by the treachery of that High-Priest Who whilst Moses was upon the Mount Psal 106.20 changed the glory of Israel into the similitude of an Ox that eateth grass How great a Controversie might God have had with him who being the High-Priest of the Living God would yet draw all Israel into a party to worship a Lifeless Idol Who soon after God had delivered them from the House of Bondage should set up Egyptian Idolatry to betray the people of the Lord back into their former stupidity and slavery How justly might God have made him resemble his Idol by taking away sight from his Eyes hearing from his Ears and breath from his Nostrils But see the compassion of God to pass by Aaron's sin and still continue him in his high station 'T would be endless to number the many Controversies which God had with his murmuring People in their Journey towards Canaan Which were yet alldetermined by the forbearance and long-suffering of the Most High And doubtless from God's great condescention to Moses before mentioned he learned to bear with the peevish murmurings of Israel against his Administration in the Wilderness But there was never such an angry man as Jonah who being by God commanded to go to Ninive and be the Herauld of