Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A63880
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A sermon preached before the Lord Mayor and the Court of Aldermen at Guild-Hall Chappel on the 7th of May 1682 / by Francis Turner ...
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Turner, Francis, 1638?-1700.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing T3281; ESTC R1763
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16,172
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40
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Devotions in the Church of Rome which would be practical Errors in us and turn our very Prayers into Sin if we should joyn throughout with them in Theirs though to speak truth they do not all pretend so much as to joyn themselves in what the Priest is in a manner whispering to himself in an unknown tongue they neither hear nor understand it But I beg leave to say in behalf of the Church of England when our Israel came out of Egypt and our House of Jacob from among the People of a strange language though we borrowed some Jewels of them I mean some part of their Antient Prayers and brought them away yet we have so accurately filed them so carefully polisht and freed them from the rust they had once contracted those that possest them heretofore do hardly know them again nor will they own them now being rather dazled than delighted with their present lustre so that we are in no danger of such a Process in Law as 't is said the Egyptians commenc'd against the Israelites to recover their Jewels again many hundred Years after since they had proof enough in whose hands they were from the Book of Exodus But our Book of Divine Service is no such perilous Evidence in our case our wise and pious Reformers receiv'd indeed and retain'd some part of a Liturgy let none think ill of the Word for 't is a Scripture-word for the Worship of God in several places of Scripture they retain'd I say some part of a Liturgy that was us'd before the Reformation but us'd before Popery too for what they so retain'd was most of it out of the Scripture out of the Epistles and Gospels and the Book of Psalms And so we may say they receiv'd and translated the Bible it self which was before in the same hands but in a manner useless to the People since neither That was allow'd them in our Mother Tongue Nay to speak truly we can hardly be said to have retain'd any Prayers of theirs rather we have restor'd the Pure and the Primitive Devotions and rejected such as were truly and properly theirs that were liable to any just Exceptions we have kept to those of the Old Catholick stamp and laid by the New the Catholick falsly so called we have try'd and purify'd ours seven times in the fire they rose as it were from the Ashes of those Renowned Protestants who compil'd them those excellent Men that suffer'd a glorious Martyrdom for being Protestants they were the Men that separated the precious from the vile and that is the admirable temper which God approves Jerem. 15. 19. if thou take forth the precious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth and I may add the next words to determine the Case between our truly Apostolick Church of England and those of Rome Let them return to thee but return not thou unto them But now let no Man imagin that the same forms if compos'd with sufficient variety may not be us'd for all men whom here we are bound to pray for or that they may not be constantly used by all men of the same National Church and the more constantly us'd so much the more devoutly with daily increasing fervors if all men would bring along with them a due intention of mind and would practise the method of retiring within themselves by a good preparative Meditation And consider I beseech you as to that objection of stinting or confining the Spirit any mans Prayer for others offer'd I mean in behalf of a whole Congregation be it to the Speaker never so unpremeditated is as much a form to the hearer if he goes along with it as if it were premeditated nor ought sett Prayers to be call'd a stinting of the Spirit when David a Man after Gods own heart has left us almost as many Forms of Devotion as he left Psalms behind him Form thy Spirit by the affection of the Psalm says St. Austin that is frame and enlarge thy Conc. 3. in Psal 30. Soul to follow the same Holy Spirit that pour'd it forth Alas what 's our Spirit in Comparison of Christ's Spirit for he had the spirit without measure and yet at two several times he repeated and recommended the same Prayer that is the Lord's Prayer and in Matt. 26. 44. He pray'd the third time saying the same Words And if it be said that a Form of Prayer can never express the needs and necessities of all men who are here to be prayed for 't is answered that no more indeed can all the most tedious Extemporary Effusions be so particular But yet a devout mind in the swiftness of thought can easily apply and sufficiently extend the Lord's Prayer or a Psalm to particular Occasions as a certain Father of the Desart instructs his Disciples how every one of them might become a kind of Psalmist That we may enjoy this Treasure saith he it is necessary that we say the Psalms with the same Spirit with which they were compos'd and accommodate them unto our selves in the same manner as if every one of us had compos'd them or as if the Psalmist had directed them purposely for our uses Loving when he loves fearing when he fears hoping when he hopes praising God when he praises weeping for our own and others sins when he weeps begging what we want with the like Spirit wherein his Petitions are fram'd loving our Enemies when he shews love to his praying for ours when he prays for his c. To proceed then our Apostle prescribes in the first place Supplications which are Letanies or Deprecations for imploring Mercy and Protection against evils to come next Prayers to procure the good things we stand in need of then Intercessions as the Apostle Heb. 7. 25. most properly calls such Petitions of any kind as are made for others seeing he ever liveth to make Intercessions for us and lastly giving of Thanks the most excellent act of the Soul and the most delightful for 't is a joyful and a pleasant thing to be thankful These several kinds of Prayers were to be made for all men with a Charity as diffusive as the Love of God to the World with a good will as universal as the Providence of his Goodness But I must not dwell on any of these Common Places I proceed to that which is more particularly design'd and recommended by St. Paul to Timothy that such Devotions as these should be offered up to God as for all men so especially for Kings and for all in Authority c. First then our solemn Prayers must be made for Kings a customary Duty paid to the Kings of the Earth and to the Royal Lineage by the Jewish Church under the Old Testament and here confirmed by this Apostle under the New And how even Heathen Emperours valued the Prayers of the Church is evident from the famous Decrees of Cyrus and Darius those Great Kings Ezra 6. 10. where their design of rebuilding the Temple and
Orators nay by the Great Cardinal Perron himself in a very august and solemn Assembly at Paris a power frequently practis'd and exercis'd to the great shame and ruin of Christian Kingdoms These seem to pervert the place that is almost parallel to my Text 1 Pet. 2. 13. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as unto those that are sent by him c. One would think they read the words of St. Peter thus Submit your selves to me or to my successor as supreme and unto Kings as to Governours sent by him But is there not a many-headed Party of Sectaries yet still usurping that honourable Name of Protestants as guilty of owning the like Principles and of acting accordingly Have not Three Kingdoms but lately felt it in the Death of our Holy King by wicked hands in the fall and bloodshed of many a Hero in Authority under him in the loss of our Peace and quietness in the decay of all Godliness and Honesty These have attempted to set one part of my Text against the other whereas we are call'd upon here to pray for Kings and all in Authority these have introduc't a distinction of taking Arms by the King's Authority against his Person But as there is light and heat where the body of the Sun is not for we enjoy light and heat upon Earth when the Sun is in Heaven and yet to be sure where the body of the Sun is there is also light and heat in the highest degree that is in the fountain of them both So 't is true the King's Authority may be where his Person is not but yet 't is certain wheresoever his Person is there is also his greatest Authority So that to take up Arms by his Authority yet against his Person is indeed to fight by his Authority yet against his Authority which is most full of contradiction And where his Person is not yet if none act and if nothing be acted but by his Commission and according to his Laws that is still by his Authority 't is the same thing the King is present there God imparts to them whom he calls Gods as it it were a Ray of his own Attribute to be by their Influence in a maner omnipresent within such a district and compass of their own Dominions Political Virtue goes out of them into others when they shall think fit to have it so But some of the stiffest Defenders of our late See Doctor Hammond 's pieces against Resistance See Bellarmin de potestate Temporali Pontif. Rom. lib. 5. cap. 7. horrid Rebellion are agreed with the great Champion of the Papal Universal Monarchy to offer another and that a bolder distinction and he tells us plainly that the Primitive Christians wanted not Authority and Right to resist upon occasion and to make head against the Civil Powers but that they wanted strength in those first Ages So that for seven hundred years after Christ this priviledge of the Church to assert Her Rights though it came to resisting of the supreme Magistrate was it seems wrapt up in silence A fair prescription of seven hundred years and of the very first years of Christianity too against such a Priviledge In the mean time what becomes of his great Canon of the Council of Trent to interpret Scripture according to the Ancient Fathers He that says St. Peter and St. Paul were not subject as other men to the higher Powers for fear he should be forc'd to acknowledge their Successors are in like manner subject I will not ask how he answers the plain words of Scripture which he thinks to elude Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers But I would ask how close does he keep to the Church for seven hundred Years and to the Fathers who he pretends are his Guides See but how well he agrees with St. Chrysostome upon the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though thou art an Apostle says he though thou art an Evangelist though thou art a Prophet whosoever thou art thou art subject to the Higher Powers But will they say our Saviour himself wanted Power or else he had exercis'd his Prerogative over Kings and Princes in the midst of his Enemies Did he want Power then when he controul'd all evil Spirits and cast out Devils with the word of his Power which is more than the greatest Monarch upon Earth could do more than King Saul could do to cast out his own evil Spirit Then when he bid the Dead come forth and presently the Earth gave up her Dead Did he want Power then when he commanded universal Nature when even the Winds and Seas obey'd him when he shew'd by his feeding so many thousands with a few Loaves and Fishes at how easie a rate he could have maintain'd and defray'd the most numerous Armies whereupon they would have taken him by force to make him a King But he no sooner perceiv'd it than he departed into a Mountain alone chusing to be an Anchorite rather than wear a Crown and lose his beloved Title Isai 49. 7. a Servant of Rulers yet whom Kings should see and arise Princes also should worship He that had more than twelve Legions of Angels at his call if he would but have pray'd his Father to send them one might wonder what hinder'd him from giving the word to one of them that came to strengthen him in his bloody sweat why did he not bid him strike the Tyrant Herod or thunder-strike the Roman Governour Pilate but that he confesses himself subject to him That Pilate had power given him from above that is in right of his Masters the Romans now lawful Soveraigns of the Jews who had surrendred their Vid. Josephi Antiqu. Judaic lib. 14. cap. 8. Empire to Pompey the Great for the use of the Roman State even the Power of Pilate as one in Authority under the Imperial Romans was ordain'd of God Therefore you see our Saviour not only paid the Tribute-money to Caesar but his Life-blood too nay he yielded himself to their Inferiour Officers and menac'd the chief of his own from whom this Power of Popes in opposition to Kings is pretended to take its rise he threatned St. Peter I say with perishing by the Sword for drawing his Sword against those common Souldiers the Governour had sent to apprehend him And was it only weakness that the Apostles forbore opening and executing their Commission as Earthly Potentates as if St. Paul could not as easily have struck dead the Jewish High-Priest Ananias that smote him on the Face as St. Peter struck another Ananias with his Wife Saphira But that Husband and Wife were counterfeit lying Christians like these that we have to deal withal they were no Kings nor were they in Authority under them Had they been such no doubt St. Peter was better taught by this time than to have us'd them so roughly For otherwise could not St. Peter