Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	keep_v	peace_n	unity_n	7,015	5	8.9407	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51228	A sermon preached on the 28th of June, at St. Andrew's Holborn by John Moore ...	Moore, John, 1646-1714.	1691 (1691)	Wing M2553; ESTC R9456	14,371	38

present world For without these Heavenly and Divine Qualifications of Mind we shall never be permitted to behold the pure and glorious Face of God and if we were it would confound us and make us miserable Let then Evil Rulers connive at those Vices which do not seem so directly to hazard and undermine their Government Let the prophane cry up their brutish Sensualities as the most exalted Enjoyments of Human Nature let the frequency of some Sins lessen their ugliness and the sense of their danger with unthinking Men yet the fatal Effects of their Wickedness shall overtake them at the last and they shall find every wilful Sin to have Malignity enough in its Nature to ruin them for the great God does behold all their Lewdnesses and Villanies he causes them all to be recorded against the day of Accounts and they will sink away with extremiry of despair when oppressed with such a vast burden of abominable Iniquities they shall be hailed to the Bar of Judgment For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings his own Iniquities shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden with the Cords of his Sins he shall die without instruction and in the greatness of his folly shall he go astray Prov. 5. 21. 3. Moreover if you consider the Precepts of our Blessed Saviour you will be fully satisfi'd that they were all levell'd at this single Mark to make Men Holy that is to confer the greatest Benefit upon them they were capable to receive For this was to render them acceptable to God to make them agreeable Company for Angels and compleatly to qualifie them to be Citizens of the New Jerusalem In this one Point did all the Promises of the Gospel and the whole design of the Life of Christ center and settle there is not a Promise made to the Malicious or the Unclean or the Revengeful or the Perjur'd or the Lovers of fleshly Pleasure nor the least anger of God manifested any where against the Humble and the Chast and the Merciful and the Righteous Persons but all the Beatitudes and Blessings of Heaven are bestowed upon the Godly and all the Curses and Punishments do light upon the Head of the Sinner And so it is plain that our Religion was enacted and published not to replenish our Heads with fine Notions nor to furnish our Tongues with Eloquent Discourse but to fill our Hearts with Humility Love and Purity and to govern our Lives and Actions by most Holy Rules And therefore under the Christian Dispensation nothing will avail us or stand our Immortal Souls in the least stead but the keeping of the Commandments of God It now only remaineth that I present you with some Directions that I hope will make a just Impression upon your Minds and be of durable advantage to you 1. The first is to keep constant and firm to the Communion of the Church in which you were Baptized and brought up a Church whose Faith is founded upon the Scriptures and whose Worship of all others cometh nearest to the Pattern left us by the Primitive Christians A Church the freest from Error in what it Teaches and from Superstition in what it Practices of any perhaps in the World which as it hath reformed it self from the Corruptions of the Church of Rome that were so destructive of a good Life so it hath only reteined a very few Rites and Ceremonies for the preservation of Order and Decency and Reverence in the Service of God and upon which it doth not lay so great weight and stress as to hold them unalterable but hath publickly declared That upon weighty and important Considerations according to the various exigency of Times and Occasions such Changes and Alterations may be made therein as to those in Place of Authority shall seem either necessary or expedient Now to them that duly weigh things it must appear very dangerous to leave the Communion of a Church so excellently constituted if you reflect either upon the grievous mischiefs of Separation or upon the great obligations Christ has laid upon us to preserve the unity of the Church It is observable that hardly any thing does occasion more bitterness and heat than an unwarrantable departure from a Church which imposes nothing sinful as a term of Communion For Separatists to justifie their departure will be apt to charge great faults how little soever deserved upon the Society they have left and so of course grow more sowr and censorious whereby animosities will encrease and the breach will be continually widen'd by fresh provocations Thus by these needless divisions the charity and good will which our blessed Master so strictly required and of which he was so glorious an Example does wast and consume away and Christians thus unjustifiably split into Parties instead of mutually supporting one another against the Common Enemy which doth thirst after their destruction do bite tear and devour each other and hereby the Band of Love which should hold us together is broken and the several Members of that Body whereof Jesus Christ is the Head are disjoynted and become useless to the holy and merciful purposes for which he did unite them It is much to be lamented that divers of those who have forsaken our Church and which they have not yet proved to have enjoyned any thing unlawful under pretence of greater edification and of joyning in a purer Communion have upon the same ground had others separate from them and these again have left others till at length they have been of no Communion at all and so with their Church have at last also lost their Religion And yet nothing is of more necessity than that the Unity of this Body of Christ the Church should be preserved entire This the Christians are frequently exhorted and strictly commanded to keep whole with the greatest care and upon this union of Members mighty blessings are bestowed there being scarce any promise of our Lord made to particular Christians but with relation to their being parts of his Church We are earnestly required to endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace with all lowliness and meekness with long suffering forbearing one another And the reason of all this is because there is one body and one spirit one hope of our calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in us all St. Paul beseeches the Romans to set a mark upon them who cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which they had learned and to avoid them And most pathetically he beseeches the Corinthians by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that they all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among them but that they be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment He also presseth the Philippians to stand fast in one spirit

with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel Nay with the most powerful and melting expressions that can come from the mouth of a man deeply concerned for their salvation he entreats them to do nothing through strife whereby the Unity of the Church may be rent If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels of mercy fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind By that solid comfort they had in being redeemed by Christ by that ineffable joy which did spring up in their souls from their fellowship with the Holy Ghost by that satisfaction and pleasure which did proceed from their sincere charity one towards another he in the most importunate and affectionate manner doth request that Peace Unity and Love may be upheld among them 2. Be very careful to do all those things in which holding Communion with the Church doth consist and which will be true Testimonies of your adherence to it Present your selves constantly to God in his own House and suffer nothing to divert you from the discharge of those Duties which you are bound to render unto the Lord upon his own day Bear your part in the Publick Worship join your Prayers with those of the great Congregation that by their their united force they may more powerfully prevail for the Blessings you most need frequently receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper that Institution of our Dear Master contrived both to preserve the Memory of his unspeakable Mercies and to confirm and encrease our Spiritual Strength Having therefore confest and bewailed your Sins and taken up strong Resolutions to forsake them do not fail humbly to approch the Table of the Lord and with the deepest Reverence and Affection to eat the Bread of Life and drink the Cup of Salvation And here it may be no improper Place for me earnestly to beseech you never to omit sending up your Prayers to God in secret at least the Morning and Evening of every day and that not formally and coldly but sincerely and heartily as Persons thoroughly concerned to be infinitely happy in another World For this Course will wonderfully keep up a vigorous sense of God in your Souls it will admirably fit you for the Publick Worship and make you benefit exceedingly by all the Ordinances of Divine Appointment it will make you perform several the Instances of Christian Duty with much chearfulness and enable you to bear the sharpest Afflictions with great Patience And it is very observable that it is a great trouble to those people when they come to die who notwithstanding their consciences did not allow them to live in any notorious sin have often upon slight occasions neglected their private prayers How little regard soever they had to the Duty of Prayer in their healthful and youthful days yet in their last hours they are very sensible of their base ingratitude to their kindest Friend and great Master And the Consideration of these omissions of Duty causes a terrible Consternation in their Minds creates many Scruples about the safety of their Condition and they are most desirous of opportunity and longer time to retrieve their intolerable negligence 3. Let it be our chief work and design to practice those Christian Graces and Vertues which are most essential to our Holy Religion and which will be the great Ornaments of our Lives Let us be humble in our whole Conversation and never suffer Pride and Ambition to betray us into any deeds of injustice or Revenge let us be meek under the highest Provocations and break the Rage and Fury of our Adversaries by our Lenity and the sweetness of our Manners let us be true to our Word faithful in all Trusts grateful for every Kindness ready to help all Men studying how we may compose the Differences and heal the Breaches which fill the World with Malice and Cruelty and Bloodshed Let us treat them gently who are not of our Opinion putting the most candid interpretation upon each others Words and Actions let us ever be disposed to forgive Injuries and where we have suffer'd wrong and have the Offender in our power to accept of a moderate satisfaction And as I exhort you to pay all Dues and just Services to your Superiors to treat your Equals with Friendship and Respect so also I most earnestly beg that you would never forget the Poor but as you have opportunity do good unto all needy distressed and comfortless Creatures Have thou patience with a man in poor estate and delay not to shew him mercy Help the poor for the Commandments sake and turn him not away because of his poverty Lose thy money for thy brother and thy friend and let it not rust under a stone to be lost Lay up thy treasure according to the Commandments of the most high and it shall bring theee more profit than Gold Shut up Alms in thy store-houses and it shall deliver thee from all affliction it shall fight for thee against thine Enemies better than a mighty shield and strong spear 4. Be sincere in what ever you say or do whether you go to the House of God or retire to your Closet to pray secretly whether you are in a treaty with your Neighbours or relieving the Poor let vain Glory have no Influence upon your behaviour but sincerely and honestly pursue the honour of God and the good of your fellow Creatures Diligently enquire into the Obligations God has laid upon eaeh of you and when you have discover'd what is fittest and best to be done undertake it chearfully and let nothing in the World put you by the performance of what you are clearly perswaded is your Duty And when you are arrived at such a pitch of Resolution as never to do any thing against your Conscience but to secure your Virtue in all your practices as you will find unspeakable pleasure in your Minds and great ease in the discharge of your Christian Duties so you will both guide and support weaker Christians by your good Example 5. Be not discouraged at the Difficulties you sometimes may find in the exercise of your Religion and the Hardships you may meet with especially at the entrance of the ways of Virtue For what course of Life soever you shall take it will not be without its troubles If you devote your selves to the World or set your Hearts upon Riches or abandon your selves to the Sins of the Flesh will you not meet with more disappointments to encounter fiercer Crosses to struggle with more Injuries and Afronts to digest and more stubborn and implacable Enemies to master than in the Service of God O let it be remember'd that if you will enslave your selves to the Lusts and Vanities of the World as you must labour harder meet with disappointments more frequently and fight more desperately so which is worst of all your