Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	know_v	scripture_n	speak_v	7,222	5	4.9707	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97294	Some prison meditations and directions on several subjects viz. on [brace] the fall of man, the sufferings of Christ, repentance and faith, reproof and counsel, the holy Scriptures, prayer, love to mankind, sincerity, the vanity of the world, the benefit of affliction, heaven and hell / by Samuel Young, minister of the Gospel.	Trepidantium Malleus.	1684 (1684)	Wing Y88A; ESTC R43962	59,844	144

Heaven to direct you what you shall say Pray Lord let my words administer Grace to the Hearers Ephes 4.29 Ask some that are under you after the reading of a Chapter or hearing of a Sermon what Christ asked his Disciples Mat. 13.51 Have ye understood all those things Heal their Ignorance direct their Souls We see Afflictions do many times stir Christians up to this Work and prepare them for it Paul speaks of great Troubles he endured 2 Cor. 6.4 But in all things approving our selves as the Ministers of Christ in much Patience in Afflictions in Necessities in Distresses Vers 9.10 As unknown and yet well-known as dying and behold we live as chastened and not killed as sorrowful yet always Rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things What did this blessed Apostle get by all vers 11. O ye Corinthians our Mouth is open unto you our Heart is enlarged He got a Heart to pity Souls and a Tongue to Counsel them There is Gold and a multitude of Rubies but the Lips of Knowledge are precious Jewels saith Solomon Prov. 20.15 Good Counsel given is better than the giving of Gold Whilst you are musing the fire may kindle and then you speak with your Tongue If you cannot speak to some write to them Letters will not blush if Faces do 2. Have an eye upon the Sins they are most addicted to and Reprove for them and on the Duties they are most averse from and perswade to them It is not enough that the Words spoken by you be good but they must be seasonable Words Some are apt to use the Name of God irreverently in their Communications Nay many great Professors I am ashamed to mention it It hath been a comfortable Consideration to me many a time that when I dye I shall be tormented with hearing the Name of God irreverently used ☜ no more Would to God the third Commandment Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain were often before the eyes of men Tell such men that they ought to fear that great and terrible Name the Lord thy God That they have Reason to adore him that he will give us leave to use his Name at any time and therefore we should not take it in vain whether theusing in common Discourse the Word Faith be Swearing I know the great Sanderson saith Saunder de juro mento that per fidem though from the manner of some Nations and intention of some Speakers it may be an Oath yet he saith Non est ex vi Verborum because saith he Fides Humana non est res Sacra but civilis and in those words we call not God a Witness and therefore is Asseveratio tantum aut ad plurimum Testatio And so he adds that per fidem is the same with Ex animo loquor Pignerofidem meam si rem ita se non habere aut si sciens fallo nulla mihi in posterum fides habeatur So he If you ask Is it unlawful thus to use the Word Faith I answer I am sure it is not unlawful to let it alone it is not a thing of good report to use and the more serious decline it Are they addicted to Lying Scoffing at Religion Shew them the evil nature and consequents of these things If they slight Prayer the Holy Scriptures Alms-deeds perswade to them 3. Be not soon discouraged because of the Ignorance or Backwardness of them with whom you deal God may in time work on them Are they ignorant speak to them of Christ and the Covenant of Grace and of the way of Sinners coming to God through a Mediatour shew them kindness and seek to make their lives comfortable as much as you can that you may the better win them If any say We are ignorant our selves and how can we instruct others This is the way to get knowledge You know that God made the world That Jesus Christ is a glorious Redeemer That all men are hastning to Eternity Come man come on thou knowest enough to fall on the practice of this duty speak to vain spirits of these things Mr. Elliot in his Account of the Progress of the Gospel in New-England written in the year 43. speaks of one Hiacoomes a plain ignorant but yet pious and serious man he converted one Towanquetick a plain Indian and this Towanquetick was the Instrument of the conversion of about a hundred Indians in a little time If others say We are ignorant after all counsel and therefore are discouraged let such often call to mind what they hear and time may make an impression I have read of Hilarius Pictavienses a famous man of France Hanmore's View of Antiqu. finding that little that he read was remembred by him threw away his Books One day passing by a Well he saw that by frequent drawing up of the Bucket the rope had made a deep impression on the Stones he thought that by frequent consideration and meditation the things he heard and read might make a deep impression on him he fell closely to his work and proved a famous man You that are ungodly and hear not your Instructors you discourage them in their work that they are ready to say as Jeremiah Then I said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name But zeal for God and love to Souls makes them at last to come to themselves and add as h●● Jer. 20.9 But his word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary of forbearing and I could not stay How many serious Souls have experienced this The Life of Mr. Janeway When Mr. Janeway overheard some unsavoury discourse in a room nigh to him he wrote down their discourse and asked them after he had read what they said whether they were willing to hear of such discourse another day Many men by their evil discourse poyson many hearers as the Basilisk doth men Morney's Resolver not by looking on them according to the vulgar error but by Poyson coming out of the mouth Children hearken to your Parents that prerswade you to mind your Souls grieve them not by your folly Let good men hearken to Reproof from their Brethren as Aaron did from Moses and Peter from Paul When Luther reproved Bullinger for some errors he had about the Word of God Bullinger came forth before all the company and fell at the feet of Luther and said Blessed be the day wherein I saw this gracious face and had these reproofs Let good men counsel then their Children and Servants and Friends It is sad that such should say My Father my Master my Friend that is a great Professor of Religion and with whom I am on all occasions by day by night never was the man that asked me what I thought of my present or eternal condition never aked me whether I thought I was converted or should be saved Yet

set closely to the work and let it prosper in thy hands that you may shine as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 But because the Scripture instructs us and contains the things about which we must instruct others I shall next speak of them CHAP. V. Of the Holy Scriptures MEDITATIONS GODS Works declare that he is but his Word only declares what he is and how he may be known and served If we see a Ship under Sail going towards its Port we ascribe not this to the wood the Ship is made of but to the skill of the Mariners whether they be seen by us or not If I see an Arrow run to the Mark I know it is shot off by a skilful hand whether I see that hand or not The Sun that great and glorious light knoweth its rising progress and going down and acts like an intelligent rational being which shews it is guided by a wise God As for Gods Providences which make some doubt his being Sir W. R. in his History of the World Chap. Of Predestination hath this saying of Gregory which he said was of great use to him Qui in Dei factis rationem non videt infirmitatem suam consideret et cur non videt rationem videat He that cannot see a reason in some of Gods Works let him consider his weakness and then he will see the reason why he sees no reason I conclude That the reason why many would hope they shall die like Beasts is that they desire to live like such Now the Scriptures contain a declaration of the Mind and Will of this God I will not determine how many Chapters every one should read every day any more than how much meat every one should eat every day Three Chapters a day the usual direction are too many for some and sometimes too few for others I am not perswading to much reading but serious reading And for young Beginners I think it proper that they be directed to the chief places in Scripture and well to understand them before they read the Bible in order The reading of Scripture with a good Comment is of great use to some persons and Families I know none for shortness and plainess like to Bishop Halls Paraphrase on the Bible DIRECTIONS 1. Come to the Scriptures as those that know a Divine Authority stamped upon them It is Gods Book read it as such It teacheth you the two things Austin would often pray for Vt cognoscam te ut cognoscam me That I may know Thee that I may know my self 2. Beg the assistance of the same Spirit in reading the Scriptures that the Pen-men had in penning them A Dial is nothing unless the Sun shine on it The Scriptures are nothing unless the Spirit illuminate our Understandings If you say what need then of Scriptures You may as well say what need then of a Dial The Spirit will make you humble and let you see your own Folly that the more you know the less you know Weems Christ Syn. In Athens in Greece the Students were the first year called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wise men the next year 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lovers of wise men but ever after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fools the more they knew the more sensible they were of their Ignorance 3. Whatever Objections you have against Scripture be not satisfyed till you have silenced them To confirm your Faith remember what is said of Christ's Resurrection Had the Jews been able to shew the dead Body of Christ after the three dayes they had overthrown the Gospel Remember Pauls Conversion Acts 9. who left a life of ease for one of affliction Judas his betraying Christ proves that he knew Christ to be no Deceiver He had not hanged himself to have accused Christ had he not known his Miracles were real many of them were not done in a Corner the place named the Street and done before many people The Disciples conversed with Christ forty dayes after his Resurrection and saw him ascend into Heaven They preached this to the world when they knew this Doctrine would cost them their Lives and it was never pretended that in all their torments that any one of them confessed a Cheat Leviath Christ Pol. but rejoiced that they were going to that Christ whom they had thus seen and preached Mr. Hobbs though he is pleased to tell us that the Scriptures were in the hands of the Ecclesiasticks for about three hundred years after the Apostles he had done well to have proved it as well as said it yet saith he believed the Scriptures were not corrupted by them If there seem to be any Coutradictions in Scripture saith Morney we should do with Scripture as Scholars with Classical Authors If they meet with a hard Sentence they do not presently throw away the Book Morney de ver Christ Rel. but turn it this way and that way rather than say the Author wrote not sense or true Latine or Greek Discipulus praeceptorem praeceptor ignorantiam accusat The Scholar blames the Master the Master his Ignorance but neither blame the Author Many passages in Scripture History we cannot easily reconcile for want of knowing some Occurrences in those times I have in this case often made use of such a Meditation as this which one night came into my thoughts If two men writing the History of the Reign of our present King one should write that this year was the thirty fifth year of his Reign and the other should write that this was the twenty third year of his Reign A Stranger or some Beyond Sea would wonder at this different account and would cry out that there was a notorious Contradiction in these two Historians but we that know how Affairs have been in England know that both wrote true This is the 35th year of his Reign if we consider how long he hath Reigned de jure upon the death of his Father this is the 23d year of his Reign if we reckon how long he hath Reigned de facto or since his retnrn A young Grammarian might quarrel with his Grammar when he read of a Singular Number when Number must be at least of two Of a Conjunction Disjunctive and cry O Horrible Contradiction in Terms when there is a conjunction of words where there is a Disjunction of Sense If any say But a great part of Scripture we understand not I answer And a great part of Scripture you do understand VVhat can be more plain than those Scriptures against Sin and for Holiness I have heard of an Unchast Lady that was objecting the obscurity of the Scripture and that she could not understand it How Madam replyed one what more plain than this Thou shalt not Commit Adultery Consider again what did the Eunuch understand Acts 8.30 God helped him said Philip to him Vnderstandest thou what thou readest A good question How can I said he And Philip instructed him

unholy still and seeing thou wilt to Hell to Hell shalt thou go Do as Jacob cry and strive long for the Blessing Gen. 32.26 And he said that is the Angel Let me go for the day breaketh and he said I will not let thee go until thou bless me What if he had given over an hour or two after he began to wrestle or but an hour before he had the blessing he had spoiled all No but he strove the whole Night You that have repented and believed give Glory to the Lord your God When God made a Covenant with Abraham he fell upon his face Gen. 17.3 When Israel heard of their deliverance out of Egypt they bowed down the head and worshipped He that believeth feeleth he believeth he knows the Acts of Faith physically considered though not Morally he hath the Faith of Adhesion though it may be not of Evidence he finds the lively workings of Faith though he may not know whether they be of the right kind But though our Safety depends upon the having of Faith yet our Comfort dependeth on our knowing that we have it If you know it say as David when he had great things from God he went and sat in his house before the Lord and said 2. Sam. 7.20 And what can David say more unto thee for thou Lord God knowest thy Servant Or as Paul to the Romans Rom. 8.31 What shall we say to these things What indeed Now may you rejoyce that instead of the Thorn is come up the Fir-tree and instead of the Brier is come up the Myrtle-tree Isa 55.13 Instead of Sin in the heart Grace now grows and instead of abominable practices in the life there are now good works They that have repented and believed should endeavour the Conversion and Confirmation of many in the Faith as they did Acts 2.47 that by them may be added unto the Church such as shall be saved But of this in the Following Chapter CHAP. IV. Of Reproof and Counsel MEDITATIONS WHO can sufficiently bewail the neglect or slight performing of this Duty by most good men though the blessing that followeth the serious practising of it by some be very great How many times have we been by Land by Water a long time with many Persons and never drop one Word suitable to their Condition Nay sometimes the Spirit hath spoken to our Consciences what once it did to Philip concerning the Eunuch Go join thy self to him Act. 8.29 yet Shame want of Courage Laziness hath kept from it All sorts of Christians may be useful this way We read Act. 18.24 Priscilla a Woman taught Apollos a man an eloquent man a man mighty in the Scriptures the Way of God more perfectly vers 26. Bishop Vsher converted when eleven years old by a Sermon on Rom. 12.1 would as soon preach at the Request of a poor Woman as of a Magistrate and he delighted more to converse with poor weak Christians than with many Learned men I may truly say to many Women on whose Souls the Image of God hath been drawn in a lively manner what David said to Abigal 1 Sam. 25.32 33. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me and blessed be thy Advice It is the Property of a proud Pharisee not of a humble Christian to contemn Reproof and Counsel from an inferiour or a mean Person John 9.34 The Pharisees could not bear a few plain pious considerations from a poor blind man but said to him Thou wast altogether born in Sin and wilt thou Teach us and they cast him out Thou us Thou an illeterate man as blind in thy Soul as once in thy Body Vs great men great Professours Let the Counsel be never so good it will not take with many wise fools if it come from a plain man F. P. Coun. of Trent Mattheo Longi Archbishop of Saltzburge after he read the Augustine Confession of Faith by the Luthetherans in Saxony and Zuinglians in Zuric he told every one That the Reformation of the Mass was honest and the liberty of meats convenient and the request just to be disburthened of so many Commandments of men but that Luther a poor Monk should Reform was not to be endured God is so well pleased with this work of turning Souls to Righteousness that the Blessed Apostle Paul had his name changed from Saul to Paul because he was the instrument of Converting a famous man call'd Paul Acts 13.9 Then Saul who also is called Paul There is the change of his name verse 7. Paulus a prudent man a Deputy called for Barnabas and Saul to hear the Word of God So one sayes of this Apostle Paul Platina de vita Pon. tif A Paulo proconsule Cypri nomen accepit quem praedicatione sua ad fidem redegerat What care then should Parents take of the Souls of their Children Masters of their Servants Friends of one another For Children it is true whilst they are Infants they cannot be instructed but may be pray'd for for as Sin and misery comes on them and they not sensible of it so may Gods Grace and Mercy they are Members of a Kingdom Subjects of a King and yet cannot understand this So they may be Members of the Body of Christ Subjects of the Lord Jesus and have no knowledg of this They may have great Estates and the benefit of Rents and yet know not what an Estate is or Rents are Admonished they should be as they grow up that they may say of their Parents as Solomon of his Prov. 4.3 4. I was my Fathers Son tender and onely beloved in the sight of my Mother He taught me also and said unto me Let thy heart retain my words Keep my Commandements and live Happy are those children that can say when their Parents are dead I remember what my Father and Mother now in Glory said to me how they instructed me In the second Epistle to Tim. 1.5 we read of the good effects of this duty When I call to mind the unfeigned Faith that is in thee which first dwelt in thy Grandmother Lois and thy Mother Eunice and I am perswaded that it is in thee also What comfort may good Parents take in good children Socrates Scholasticus says of Leonides the father of Origen that when his Son was asleep he would sometimes uncover his breast and kiss it with a kind of veneration knowing his Son was a Temple for the Holy Ghost to dwell in Leonides was wont when Origen was very young to teach him some Aphorisms and Sentences in Christianity every day which made such a deep impression upon him that he was soon called Senilis Puer the Old Boy Vir magnus ab Infantia A great man from his Childhood Young he was in years onely but old in Knowledg and Grace When Bathsheba had a Promise from King David that Solomon her Son should be King after him it is said 1 Kings 1.31 That she bowed her face to

the earth and did reverence to the King and said Let my Lord King David live for ever Adore the Lord God if he hath made your Children by his Grace Heirs of the Kingdom that cannot be shaken Give me leave by the way to bewail the great and common sin found among us That many children are sooner taught what Jupiter Mars and such Pagan Gods were than what Father Son and Spirit is Josiah when he was young 2 Chron. 34.3 enquired after the God of David his Father but many now when young after Heathen Gods Augustine of old complained of this Aug. Confes lib. 6. of hearing in Schools Joves Thundering and Adulteries and for giving an account of such things saith he Et ob hoc bonae spei puer appellabar I was called a hopeful Lad. Luther also complained that our Schools were more Pagan than Christian I referr the unsatisfied Reader to Pasors Preface to his Lexicon he observeth of Pythagoras his golden verses so much esteemed of and I fear accounted more golden by too many than our Saviours Sayings on the Mount how they begin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Honour the Immortal Gods c. And as I have observed worse after I knew an Aged Famous Schoolmaster that after he had kept School about fifty years said with a very sad countenance That it was a great trouble to him that he had spent so much time in reading Pagan Authors to his Scholars and wisht it were customary to read such a Book as Duports Greek Verses upon Job rather than Homer and such Books I beseech School-masters if they must read such Authors do as they do that eat Mushromes or such dangerous meats use strong Correctives Shew Youth the vanity of the Pagan Religion and the excellency of the Christian Religion Perswade them above all things to be acquainted with the Holy Scriptures which alone can make them wise to Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 when many vain books make many wise to Damnation If Children die what doth it signifie to say they were ingenious if they be graceless will Ingenuity save them They are as Thales Milesius that was gazing on the Stars minding their magnitude situation and influences when he should have been minding his way and so fell into the water and was drowned I pray God put it in the hearts of a wise Parliament to purge our Schools that instead of learning vain Fictions and filthy stories they may be acquainted with the VVord of God with Books containing Grave Sayings And learn in Prose or Verse the Histories of the Kings of England the chief Passages in their Reigns and some Maxims in Law and things that may make them truly wise and useful in the world I know I shall offend not a few in thus writing But let such remember my Authors before named Austin Luther Pasor and others that I might name and if I must have a Reprimand I am glad that I have such good company It is storied of the old Waldenses in France in the dark times of Popery R. his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they so instructed their Children in the great things of God that some Popish Doctors said that they learned more of the Doctrine of Salvation by talking with those Children than they did by the Disputations of great men There is another fault among us to be condemned the early and unnecessary sending of young men beyond Sea to see Countreys speak Languages before they have studied the grounds of our Religion and so are infected with Popery or Atheism I desire such before they send their Children away or the Children before they go to read Bishop Hall his Quo vadis a Book to which little can be added And then I hope they may be willing to stay at home How sad is it in most houses where the fear of God is not Of which it may be said what is said of Babylon Rev. 18.2 that they are a Habitation of Devils and the hold of every foul Spiri●● and the cage of every unclean and hateful Bird so many wicked persons and so much wickedness is in them that the serious Christian may sometimes say in the beholding of it what Job said in another case O that my grief were thorougly weighed and that my sorrow were laid in the ballance for then would it be heavier than the sand of the Sea That there is so much Lying Prophaning the Name of God and so much of unsavoury rotten communications in most families and among Children that when they are men and women these things become common to them That if it be then asked what Christ asked the Father about his Childs disease how long ago this happened to them the same answer may be given even from a Child 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 9.21 I now come to a few Directions DIRECTIONS 1. Cry to God for Bowels of Compassion toward Souls and for Dexterity in this work of Reproving and Counseling that you may say with Paul Rom. 9.1 2 3. I say the Truth in Christ I lye not my Conscience also bearing me Witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual Sorrow in my Heart for I could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my Brethren my Kinsmen according to the flesh As if he had said I could almost be willing to perish for their sakes say with David Psal 119.158 I beheld the Transgressors and was grieved because they kept not thy Word You Parents that are so tender of the Bodies of your Children be much more concerned for their Souls You that desire great Estates for them much more desire Heaven for them How many mind their Oxen Sheep and Swine more than the Souls of their Children Sauls Father Kish 1 Sam. 10.2 Gave over caring for the Asses saying What shall I do for my Son So be less concerned about the things of the World and say What shall I do for the Souls of my Children that it may be said of you as in Prov. 10.20 The Mouth of the Righteous is as choice Silver when you speak with tender Bowels of Compassion It is not you that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you Mat. 10.20 When God bad Moses to speak to Pharaoh and Moses Objected want of Eloquence said God Exod. 4.12 Now therefore go and I will be thy mouth and I will teach thee what thou shalt say That you may by your good Counsel overcome Satan as David by playing with his Musical Instrument made the evil Spirit to depart from Saul 1 Sam. 16.23 I know for some audacious Sinners it is better to be silent than reprove Hezekiah his command was prudent when Rabshakeh Blasphemed Isa 36.21 But the People held their peace and answered him not a Word for the Kings Commandment was saying Answer him not Let Prayer accompany the work of Exhorting Neh. 2.4 stand before the man as Nehemiah before the King and Queen praying to the God of