Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	learn_v	young_a	youth_n	25	3	7.5554	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81199	An exposition with practicall observations continued upon the twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, and twenty-sixth chapters of the book of Job being the summe of thirty-seven lectures, delivered at Magnus near London Bridge. By Joseph Caryl, preacher of the Word, and pastour of the congregation there.	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1655 (1655)	Wing C769A; ESTC R222627	762,181	881

God made two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night he made the starres also and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth God in Creation did with the light as he did with the waters which being made were divided the waters above the firmament were divided from the waters under the firmament and the waters under the heaven he gathered together into one place Gen. 1.9 God prepared a certaine great vessell into which the waters were called and gathered that they should not spread over the earth as they did at first which gathering together of the waters God called Seas Gen. 1.10 Thus the light which was spread and scattered through the ayre over all the earth God gathered into severall vessells Pulchritudo es ornamenta coelorū stellae sunt sicut terrae animantia et plantae Sanct and the gathering together of light he called Sunne Moone Starrs which are as Job here calleth them the garnishing of the heavens Moses epitomiseth or briefly summs up his larger narrative of the Creation in these words Gen 2.1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them that is they were finished not onely as to their essentials but ornamentalls not only was the foundation layd the walls and pillars the beames and rafters of that goodly structure set up and perfected but all the furniture of it was brought in and the beautyes of it compleated Now as gemms minerals plants trees and all living creatures are the Garnishing of the Earth and the host of God there so the Sunne Moone and Starrs are the garnishing of heaven and the host of God there David speaketh of these distinctly Psal 33.6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth All creatures whether placed in heaven or earth are for their number their strength their order their readynes at a call or command the host of God Earthly Princes shew their power in their hosts and armyes of what power God is both his acts and his hosts aboundantly declare And as these creatures are the armyes or host of God in heaven and earth so they are the Adornings and Garnishings of heaven and earth Job in this place speaketh onely of the former By his Spirit he hath Garnished the Heavens Onely here take notice that some expound the word Spirit for the winde which bloweth in the ayre and so render the text thus By his winde hee garnisheth the heavens As if this were Jobs meaning that God sending forth the windes dispelleth and scattereth those clouds foggs and mists which often cover the face of the heavens and hinder our beholding their glory and garnishings According to this interpretation the garnishing of the heavens is nothing else but the removing of that which obscureth the Garnishing of them And it is true that when the heavens are maskt over with clouds and darknesse God by the winds cleareth the ayre and so reneweth the face of those heavenly bodyes But I passe by this and shall onely insist upon the former exposition of these words as being more sutable with Jobs scope and more expressive of the power and Glory of God in the great things which he hath wrought for us By his Spirit hee garnisheth the heavens Hence learne First We ought joyntly to acknowledge and give glory to the Father Son and Spirit in the worke of Creation Solomon in his advice to the young man sayth Eccl 12.1 Remember thy creators in the dayes of thy youth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 creatorum tuorum Myster●um Sanctae Trinitatis Pisc Wee translate in the singular number creator but the Hebrew is plural Creators intimating the mystery of the Holy Trinity as Moses also is conceaved to doe in that plural expression Gen 1.26 And God sayd let us make man in our image after our likenes And though this be added in a way of Eminency when the particular creation of man is set downe yet we are to understand it so generally of the whole worke of Creation and as of the worke of Creation so of all other divine workes towards the creature Redemption is the worke of the Father and of the Spirit as wel as of the Son and sanctification is the worke of the Father and of the Son as wel as of the Spirit The three persons worke together onely they have a distinct manner of working according to which each worke is chiefely attributed to that person and so creation is specially appropriated to the Father Redemption to the Son and Sanctification to the Holy Ghost Seing then all Three worke together in all things towards us All three ought to be equally and eternally honoured worshipped loved and obeyed by us By his Spirit he hath garnished the Heavens Secondly Observe The heavens are full of beauty God hath not onely made them but adorn'd them What a rich and Royall Canopy hath God hung over the heads of poore wormes dust and ashes God did not thinke it enough to give us a house unlesse he gave us also a pleasant house he was not satisfied in setting up a large fabricke for us unlesse he also furnished and garnished it for us God hath made the world not onely usefull but contentfull to us he hath fitted it not onely for our necessity but delight The earth is beautifull but the heavens exceed in beauty The heavens are the Ceiling of our house and the Starres are like Golden studs and sparkling Diamonds in that Ceiling We may inferre three things from the Garnishing of these heavens First If the heavens which we see are so glorious what are the heavens which no eye hath seene If God hath thus discernably adorned the first and second heavens how unconceaveable are the ornaments of the third heavens If nature hath so much beauty in it how be●utifull a thing is Glory If God hath prepared such heavens as our eyes see for those who hate him then surely eye hath not seene eare hath not heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man to understand what those heavens are which God hath prepared for them and for them alone who love him The light of these visible heavens is but darkenes to that inheritance of the Saints in light The Moone-light if I may so speake of that state shall be better and more illustrious then the Sun-light of this and the light of the Sunne shall be sevenfold as the light of seven dayes in that Great day when the Lord shall perfectly bind up All the breaches of his people and heale the stroake of their wound God who by his Spirit hath garnished these heavens will be himselfe with his Son and Spirit the eternal Garnishing of those heavens Secondly Seing God hath been so bountifull and munificent as to Garnish the heavens for us even for us by his Spirit seing he hath provided such

least work A natural man eyther makes the Law of God voyd by doing that which is against it or he lets it lie voyd by not doing it and would be glad that this talent committed to him might for ever be wrapt up in a napkin or be buryed in the earth Both these turnings whether to the right hand or to the left are evill The way of holines the good way lieth streight forward right on It hath no turning either to the right hand nor to the left All the wayes of sinne are called crooked wayes and they are our owne wayes Psal 125.5 As for such as turne aside to their crooked wayes the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquitie The Psalmist calls them Their crooked wayes that is wayes of their own devising whereas the way of holines is the Lords way To exceed or to doe more to be deficient or to doe lesse then God requires both these are crooked wayes the way of the Lord lyes streight forward right before us Pro. 28.18 Who so walketh vprightly shall be saved but he that is perverse or crooked in his wayes shall fall at once The motion of a godly man is like that of the kine that carryed the Arke 1 Sam. 6.12 Who tooke the streight way to the way of Bethshemesh and went along the high way lowing as they went and they turned not aside to the right hand or to the left But you will say Doe not good men even the best of good men decline sometimes and goe aside or doth it argue every man to be wicked who declines at any time I answer Job speakes of what he had not done not of what it was impossible for him to doe he had not declined yet he might have declined Wee finde many declinings among the godly how many are there that decline in degrees who are godly in the maine They love still but they have not the same warmth of love the same heate of affection They obey still but they have not the same strength of obedience There may be a declineing also not onely in the way but from the way to the right hand sometimes and sometimes to the left there may be an exceeding and there may be a coming short in those as to actions who as to their state are come home to God these things are possible yea common but we speake of what many godly men doe and what should be the aime and designe of every godly man that is to keepe the way of God and not to decline to keepe himselfe up in spirituall strength and to keepe himselfe onne in a spirituall course yea every godly man may and can say as David did Psal 18.21 I have kept the wayes of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God Though every godly man cannot say as godly Job did I have kept his way and not declined yet every godly man may say as David I have kept his wayes and have not wickedly departed from my God we should be afraid of declineing and decaying we should strive to be alwayes advancing and encreasing And as Saints are under a command to be such so they are under a promise to be such Psal 92.12 13 14. The righteous shall flourish like a Palme tree he shall grow like a Cedar in Libanon Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God they shall still bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing Here is not onely a mention of growing but of flourishing and here 's flourishing three times mentioned and 't is growing and flourishing not onely like a tree but like a Palme-tree which flourisheth under opression and like a Cedar not growing in ordinary places but in Lebanon where were the goodliest Cedars Nor doth the Spirit promise here a flourishing in boughes ane leaves onely as some trees doe and doe no more but in fruit And this not onely fruit for once in a yeare or one yeare but they still bring forth fruit and that not onely in the yeares of their youth or beginnings in grace but in old age and that not only in the entrance of that state which is called old age threescore yeares but that which the Scripture calls the perfection of old age threescore yeares and ten as the learned Hebrewes observe upon the word used in the Psalme What a divine climax doth the Spirit of God make in this Scripture to shew that the godly man as to his state is so farre from declining that he is still climbing higher and higher And if any shall aske how comes it to passe then that some godly men are observed not onely by themselves but by others to decline often in and sometimes from the wayes of God I answer these declinings may be assigned to severall Causes First To the power of some Corruption remaining much unmortified in them as in a garden when the weeds grow high the good herbs decline And as in a field when the weeds are strong the corne is weake so it is here the prevailing or growing of Corruption is the declining of Grace in degree and by reason of it some for a time decline from the way Secondly Declinings are from the prevalency of temptation while Satan plieth some with temptation he turneth them out of the way or causeth them to walke but slowly in it As temptation is a tryall of so a hindrance unto grace yea though corruption be kept much downe yet some through a violent gust of temptation have been over-borne Thirdly Declinings are caused in the good by the example of those that are evill therefore the Apostle gives that Caution Rom. 12.2 Not to be conformable to the world A godly man is apt enough to write by a false copie and to doe as he sees the world doth What was all their way or their onely way before conversion they after conversion through neglect of their watch may be found stepping into or taking a step or two in Before conversion our whole course sayth the Apostle Ephe. 2.2 is according to the course of this world And the examples of the world have drawne many aside after they have come out from the world The fashions and vanities of the world in pride and pleasure are very drawing All examples especially evill examples like the Loadstone have an attractive vertue in them and many of the godly have been drawne aside thus and have declined with much scandal fot a while from the way of God Fourthly Declinings are sometimes from afflictions and those we may consider of two sorts personall or publique both or either of these have caused many to decline The cold frost of affliction hath nipped the graces of some and made them to turn aside from the way of God Therefore the Church having reported her great troubles speakes it as an argument of much sinceritie towards God and strength of Grace received from him Psal 44.17 18. All this

from their evill wayes and so his purpose for their preservation might be accomplished Thus the outward sentence is changed but the minde of God is not changed And these changeable sentences were decreed by God to bring about his unchangeable decree Fourthly I answer When God is said to repent the change is not in God but in us God is alwayes the same but wee are not God is so much the same that he never alters and man is so little the same that he is alwayes altering and when he hath done evill it is good for him that he is so God did not change but Noneveh changed by turning from sin and Hezekiah changed by improving more in prayer and therefore he dyed not at that time nor were they then destroyed The change is in the creature not in God when that is changed which God speakes concerning the creature He is still unmoveable in the same minde all the motion is in the minde of man It is in this case as with a ship putting out to Sea When a ship sets out from the harbour and sayles by the shoare the unexperienced passenger thinkes the shore moves from the ship whereas indeed the ship onely moves from or by the shore So when we thinke God changeth or is moved the change or motion is onely in our selves In one dispensation we take notice of the love of God and in another of his wrath in a third of his justice and in a fourth of his mercy These are changes upon us but not in God And these shew that God changeth his course towards us but they are no proofes of a change in God For the love of God and the wrath of God the justice of God and the mercy of God are still the same but we changing are cast sometime under the effects of his love and sometimes of his wrath we are sometimes under the saddest droppings of his justice and sometimes under the sweetest influences of his mercy As when a man changeth his aspect and turnes about his body to another poynt That part of the heaven which was before at his right hand is now at his left yet the heavens are as they were they doe not change eyther their position or their motion but the man hath changed his Thus the wrath and love the Justice and the mercy of God stand alwayes at the same poynt but man turneth sometimes Justice-ward and sometimes mercy-ward now he faces the wrath and anon the love of God And doing so he meetes with many changes in the dispensations of God toward him but there is no change in the minde of God toward him And seing God is unchangeable or in one minde take this by way of deduction from it 'T is the duty of man to submit himselfe unto and acquiesce in the minde of God Seing the mind of God rests we ought to rest in the mind of God that is we ought to resigne up our selves and to resolve our minds into the mind and our wills into the will of God What ever pleaseth God should please us He is in one minde and that one minde of his hath nothing in it but justice and righteousnes toward all nothing but goodnes and mercy nothing but loving kindnesse and faithfullnesse toward his peculiar people As the minde of God revealed in his word should be the rule of our actions so the minde of God revealed by his workes should be the rest or ease of all our passions The minde of God is that by which we are to guide our selves in all we doe and to that we must yeeld in all we suffer While we see some sorely discomposed in their spirits yea vext beyond all reason at the dispensations of God have we not reason to beleive that they have never heard or at least not well learnt and digested this great truth That God is in one minde When the minde of God is done himselfe is pleased and should not whatsoever pleaseth God please us also yea though it be in it selfe bitter and unpleasant to us A gratious heart tasts sweetnesse in Gall and Wormewood considered under this notion as it is the will and minde of God he should drinke it or feed upon it It was a strange power that David had over the people of Israel or it shewes that they had a very strong opinion of his justice and integrity when it is sayd 2 Sam. 3.36 Whatsoever the King did pleased all the people What was sayd of him we should say in the highest sence of God whatsoever he doth should be pleasing to all his people It was once the saying of a Court-flatterer That which pleaseth the King Placet mihi quod regi placet dixit Harpalus Apud Herod lib. 1. pleaseth mee We cannot flatter God in saying so It is but our duty to say so we sin if we say not and say not with our hearts Whatsoever pleaseth God pleaseth us He acts below both the duty and priviledge of a man who resolves himselfe into the will of any man how high soever or though he be King-High and he acts above both the state and proportion of a man though much below the duty of a Christian who doth not resolve himselfe into the will of the most high God who is higher then the highest of the Kings of the earth He vainely supposeth himselfe God-High who submits not to the will of the most High God Whatsoever God doth or will have done man should say Even so be it as God will have it But some may say if it be so then it seemes we may not endeavour to extricate our selves from or to get a removall of any of those evills troubles or afflictions which at any time presse and greive us For answer to this scruple I say First It is our duty in every trouble that God layeth upon us to seeke unto God and to use all good meanes for the taking of it off from us But Secondly We must not seeke unto God for the removing of any evill from us as being displeased with his laying it upon us we must be quiet under our troubles and yet we may both desire and endeavour to be quit of them Though God be in one minde yet that doth not necessitate man to one condition nor hinder him from seeking a better then that wherein he is I have insisted the longer upon this poynt because Job gives it as a general answer to all his friends queryes about him and as the best expedient for reconciling the difference between them and him He is in one minde And who can turne him Hence learne That as God is unchangeable in himselfe so none can alter or change him Some men are of a very steady spirit they are not in and out as we say forward and backward let them alone and they are true to their own principles and they will be true to others according to their promises Yet possibly these men may be turned aside and led out