Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	lord_n	people_n	word_n	7,267	5	4.0951	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42389	Moses and Aaron brethren, or, The excellencie, necessity, consistencie, and vsefulnesse of magistracy and ministery under the Gospel opened in a sermon preached at the assizes held at Darby the eighth of March, MDCLIII / by Samuel Gardiner ... published not for contention, but satisfaction.	Gardiner, Samuel, 1619 or 20-1686.	1653 (1653)	Wing G247; ESTC R30401	15,886	26

Moses The hand was Moses Esay 63.11 ô but the glorious arm wrapt in the cloud was Gods Thou leddest God is indeed the great State-holder the upholder of Government in the World Psal 47.9 The Cap of Maintenance fits onely his head Cujus nutu geruntur omnia The shields of the earth are the Lords they beare his arms image and inscription he holds them up and over the world Dan. 4.3 Omne regnum sub gravtori In ipsos reges Imperium est Jovis The Kingdome is the Lords and he is the chief Governour among the Nations Psal 22.28 and this Kingdome rules over all Psal 103.19 even in and over the Kingdomes of me● disposing of Crowns and Scepters as he pleases leading his people by them that are their Leaders though not by miraculous or immediate yet by special and over-ruling providence This is old doctrine and therefore I like it the better Christianus nullius hostis ne dum Imperatoris quem scit à Deo suo constitui Colimus ergo Imperatorem ut hominem à Deo secundum quicquid est à Deo consecutum Tertul. ad Scap. Indè Imperator unde homo indè potestas illa unde spiritus Apolog. Cujus jussu animae nascuntur reges conflituuntur c. Iren. lib 5. ad finem as old as Tertullian A Christian say● he is no mans enemy much less the Emperours whom ●e knows to be appointed by his God Go therefore reverence the Emperour as a man next to God and as one that has obteined whatever he has gotten from God And elswhere Thence comes the Emperour whence comes his power whence comes his spirit which he learned from Irenaeus before him He whose powerful Word creates souls the same creates Princes and Potentates his Word whose saying is making who has said of these men Ye are gods Psal 82.6 That popular saying then that all power is from the people must be wisely and warily understood else it will be found both dangerous and irreligious For though it 's true government of men over men is usually cōmitted for execution to men by the free consent and choice of men yet we must still firmly hold unless we deny providence that it 's primarily principally and originally from God from whom though in part by the good wils of men descends every good and perfect gift Jam. 1.17 And seeing the power or dominion of men over beasts and creeping things is on all hands acknowledg'd so divine as that it 's made a special part of Gods image or likeness in man certainly the power and dominion of men over their fellow-creatures men must need be much more divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jupiter quasi juvans pater the very image that fell from Jupiter mention'd Acts 19.35 Yea the image of the living God the true helping Father of the World falne on men causing them to shine like Moses with the glorious beams of his own power communicated to them In a word to close this particular Government of men is nothing for the substance but a power over m●ns estates and lives But this power must necessarily come primarily and originally from God for who shall exempt the Magistrate taking away any mans life and estate from those general and by men uncontrolable Laws Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not steal but a divine dispensation and a law equal in authority to the former A willing agreement and submission of men is not alone sufficient For though I be willing to be kill'd desire yea command another man to kill me yet he may not take away my life Neither does the heinousness or notoriousness of mens crimes authorize men to punish for if one were going to suffer for killing his own father a private man cannot without murther put him to death But there is a divine Law impowring some men to these great actions recorded Gen. 9.6 He that sheds mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed God has resolved and enacted that in case of murther one man shall have power by vertue of this grant and grand Charter to take away Gen 9.6 Magna Charta Magistratûs even the life of his fellow-creature and that lawfully Neither are we to conceive that God will himself punish every murderer as Socinus would evade for it 's cleerly express'd By man shall his bloud be shed God has authorized and deputed men to be his Ministers and Administrators o● judgement on men The Magistrate or power is Gods Minister impowered and ordained by him to execute wrath i e. severe punishment even to death on evil doers For he bears not the sword in vain and the sword we know is the instrument of death Jehoshaphat in his charg to his Judges 2 Chron. 19.6 tels them they judg'd not for men i.e. primarily or onely but for and in the room of the Lord as his Deputies and Vice-gerents ministers and instruments so that what they do according to his powers and instructions he does by them Thou leddest though by the hand of Moses and Aaron Let the fear of God then fall upon all your hearts this day Every thing that 's divine springs from God bears his Name and appointment is sacred and reverend Power of some men over others naturally their equals is from God his order and institution They could have no power over us our lives and estates were it not given and granted them not onely from beneath by the will of men but chiefly from above by the will of God as our Saviour acknowledges concerning even Pilates jurisdiction over him which was usurped or at least impos'd without the free consent of the people as all Histories manifest The powers that be are ordained of God John 19.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and no power but is so Rom. 13.1 The God of gods has said They are gods and we must reverence him and his power in them What then our Saviour said concerning John Baptist What went ye out to see a man clothed in soft raiment c. Matth 11.9 We may apply to the present occasion What come ye out for to see men clothed in Scarlet meer men yea I say unto you These are more then men for God hath said of these men that they are Gods and all children of the most High So that I hope I may use in a better sense the words of those of Lystra The gods Acts 14 11. or rather God is come down to us in the likenesse of men Truly my Lords the solemn sound of the Trumpet a good Memoranaum of the grand Assize whereat Judges themselves must be judg'd your scarlet dip't in the blood of Malefactors Vox capitis in ore membri your erected seat of Justice and solemne attendance are apt to breed awe in the hearts of men But alas this is but the outside the ceremonie and trappings of honour ad populum phaleras The sacred majesty of God whose person

Exod. 4.14 15. then not to be religious men and to be no people then not to be Gods When Israel Gods people here were to be led out of Egypt Moses whom the very Heathen commend as a prudent and gallant man would not undertake this service alone wherefore for the facilitating the work God tels him Aaron the Levite his brother was comming to meet him and would be glad in his heart to see him They meet and kiss each other and both are commissioned by God to bring Israel out of Egypt Thou leddest thy people by the hand of Moses and Aaron And it 's here by the hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in manu in or by the hand in the singular not hands to intimate the unity and consistencie of these two persons and their functions distinct though not opposite together Moses and Aaron may be severall fingers and his may be the longest and yet they may well make up still one hand of Government Matth. 17.3 by the hand of Moses and Aaron There is no inconsistency 'twixt Moses and Aaron Magistracie and Ministerie There 's no jarring in the Mount 'twixt Moses the supreme Law-giver and Elijah the King-reproving Prophet Exod. 7.12 Revel 11.8 Moses his rod though it may devoure the rods of the Egyptian Sorcerers of Rome which is spiritually Egypt that draw people to the obedience of another supream Head yet not Aarons rod. Numb 17. 1 Cor. 4.21 And Aaron had a rod laid by the pot of Manna So had S. Paul Shall I come unto you with the rod The rod of information and correction are not inconsistent but subservient each to other Lightning should go before Thunder informe convince then think of punishing men Moses and Aaron we know were brethren and brethren naturally love one another and are helpfull each to other When Israel was intangled in the warre with Amaleck in the Wilderness Exod. 17.12 Moses's hands grew weary and heavy Aaron then held them up Had not Aaron helped Moses Moses had not held out nor Israel prevailed against their enemies They were led but still by the hand of Moses and Aaron Whether is it any hinderance to this so desirable and useful harmony that Aaron pleads a divine right for his office as Moses for his is it any wonder that brethren lay claim to the same Father Moses and Aaron are Brethren But to shew the weakness of this exception Are not all Magistrates by divine right as well as the Supream Does not the Apostle say There 's no power but of God Rom. 13.1 Beza in locum and Let every soul be subject to the higher powers The Apostle sayes not as Beza observes Let every soul be subject to the highest power but to the higher powers And inferiour Magistrates are higher powers in respect of the people as well as the Supream Will they therefore undermine the Supream or must the Supream Magistrate to shew his Supremacy over all perform all Offices in his own person Have not Masters a cleer divine right to rule their servants Parents to rule their children are they therefore inconsistent with the Supremacy of the civil Magistrate May they not with subordination and declared subjection mould up into one civil Politie Society and Government I have stuck a little in this in regard there are evil envious men who go up and down sowing the tares of division in the Nation betwixt Brethren even these two Moses and Aaron As if they were Cadmei fratres brethren that cannot stand together but must destroy one another surely there is no such antipathy as these men fearing their own shadow imagine 'twixt Magistracie and Ministery If so surely it would have appeared long ago in the government of Gods people but there 's no such complaint yea contrarily we have in this very text a thankful acknowledgement of Gods singular mercy in and by the government of both subscrib'd in the behalf of himself and all God's people by the undoubted Prophet Asaph Thou leddest amongst other special mercies thy people by the hand of Moses and Aaron And this leads me to the fourth particular the subjects of this divine Government Gods own people Thy people The people whom he chose out of all the Nations of the earth to be his peculiar people a people to whom he was not onely a God but a King for their Government was a Theocracy as Philo calls it The Lord was their Law-giver the Lord was their King as they acknowledge Esay 33.22 A people to whom he not only gave most excellent Laws without them to guide them for their Laws were all divine of Gods own framing but also his holy Spirit within to rule and govern them yea who enjoyed extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit in Dreams Visions and Revelations Vrim and Thummim Gods miraculous presence going before them and leading them by the Cloud by day and the Pillar of fire by night yet notwithstanding all this God would not leave even this people to their own private spirit and self-government but committed them to the guidance and publick direction of Moses and Aaron men subject to the same passions weaknesses and miscartiages with themselves Thou leddest thy people by the hand of Moses and Aaron By what hath been said honoured and beloved ye may easily discern the self-conceit or at least deceit of those who because they are as they say Gods people have his grace and Spirit within to teach and govern them despise all outward instruction or government as below them bitterly scorn and revile the Ministery both of Moses and Aaron For Moses the Law-giver they have the Law written in their hearts They need none of your outward dead killing letter They have the Spirit and no question the Spirit of God is as able to make a man on a sudden without study or meditation an accomplisht Lawyer Physician Husbandman c. as a Minister and makes in that manner in these dayes as many of one sort as another But for Aaron they are all Priests and why not Kings too as well as John of Leiden all Prophets taught of God and shall they be put to charges to be taught of men But such Anabaptistical fancies as these are sufficiently discover'd by the light of this Text to honest mindes that seek nothing but truth and the saving their souls not their tithes For we see here plainly that God setled this way of governing by Moses and Aaron ruling and teaching Elders over his own people it 's cleerly divine and dare any man think God setled a Government over his people tyrannical oppressive or prejudicial to their temporal or spiritual concernments yea though in those dayes the Canon or Rule of divine Writ not being fully compleated The true spirit of prophecie not that boorish apish sprite that scares Ranters and Quakers out of all sense and reason was more generally bestowed then now it is or need to be yet God would still

have a publick outward standing Magistracie and Ministery to rule and direct his people and he that presumptuously and contemptuously opposed their directions Deut. 17.12 was to die the death so far was God from leaving every one to his own humour and self-government even of his own people who were a Kingdom of Priests holy and deare unto God as well as any now under the Gospel But says the Socinianiz'd Anabaptist There 's great difference 'twixt the Jews and us Gradu non substantia Iten Euseb was the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 1. § 5. we are Christians You must not urge legal adminstrations and institutions in Gospel-times I answer The Jews were Christians as well as we were they not believers saved by faith Heb. 11. Was not Abraham one who was the father of the faithful The Jewish and Christian Church differ not in substance but in degree of perfection onely in time and growth not in nature Can they prove Magistracie Ministery or Tithes either Ceremonials things that have in them any thing peculiar typical proper to the Jews as such no way allowable under the Gospel if not their exception is vain and frivolous But who were they to whom Saint Paul writes Rom. 13.1 to be subject to the higher powers Were they not Christians Does he not enjoyn Titus to put Christians in minde Tit●s 3.1 to be subject to principalities and powers to obey Magistrates This is New Testament-doctrine and is not that a Christians 1 Thess 5.12 We beseech you Brethren to know them that labour amongst you and are over you in the Lord surely without self-exaltation and love of pre-eminency and to esteem them very highly for their work sake What work for admonishing you Isaiah 29.21 But men of this spirit most scornfully mis-esteem them hating them whose special ofice it is to reprove in the gate And no question they that hate Ministers for admonishing them of their sinnes and errours do however they hide it hate Magistrates much more in their hearts for punishing their persons But if such principles of levelling Anabaptisme prevail it 's no great matter whether men be Magistrates or Ministers they 'l make a perfect parity which if it be the Gospel-Reformation it 's just it should be a thorow one But I shall close up this with the serious and seasonable admonition of Saint Peter Wherefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before 2 Pe● 3.17 what they tend to take heed lest ye be carried away as with a land-flood with the errour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the lawless ones or as we read it wicked ones And they may well stand together for lawlesse persons are wicked persons either they must be so or the lawes Such they have formerly prov'd witnesse the Circumcelliones or rigid Donatists of old and the Anabaptists in Germany of late But lest any should surmise as the world is full of jealousie and mistake that I have spoken all this while covertly for ryranny oppression or persecution of quiet and harmlesse persons for insolent domination over Gods people either by Moses or Aaron Magistrate or Minister let me request your patience to the last particular The temper or manner of this Government which I have hitherto vindicated and commended expressed in this Metaphor like a flock There 's two things it Lenity Unity I am for both 1 Lenity like a flock not like an herd of Swine or drove of Oxen that are driven by violence and rigour but like a flock of sheep that must be gently and tenderly led The Romanes sometimes took their Generals from the Plough Duci volunt n●n cogi which rips up the bowels of our common mother the earth but God when he chose a man after his own heart to govern his people Flotu lib. 1. David from following the Ewes great with young a condition requiring all tendernesse he took him that he might feed Jacob his people Psal 78.72 and Israel his Inheritance He brought him up a tender Shepherd over sheep that so he might make him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Homer calls his Prince a fit Shepheard of men Moses was a man of the same occupation a Shepherd and of the same temper and disposition too Numb 12.3 the meekest man upon the face of the earth as soft as the wool on his Sheeps backs his gentle hand it is by which God led Israel no Phaeton's or Furius's Thou leddest thy people by the hand of Moses 2 It notes as a leading with lenity so in unity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sicut pecudem like one sheep in respect of unity like a flock in respect of society and communion Our Saviour often compares his Desciples to sheep it 's his usuall Hieroglyphick Joh. 10. Matth. 25. Sometimes to a flock Luke 12.32 Fear not little flook Heb. 10.25 Sheep are animalia aggregativa Love the flock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to synagoguize to assemble together Beasts of prey as lions and beares are solivaga love to wander alone It 's true sheep are apt to go astray and therefore Shepherds are necessary but it 's never more then when they leave the Shepherd and the sheep-fold I have gone astray like a sheep that 's lost Psal 119. ult We read in the Gospel of a sheep lost seldome or never of a flock lost There 's great security as well as comfort in the communion of found and honest Christians The communion of Saints is indeed an article of our faith but we have disputed it almost to nothing I care not to graspe shadowes But certainly God delights not in subtle nice and unnecessary separations and divisions It pleases him little to see his people scatter'd up and down in holes and hedge-bottoms He loves to see them tanquam gregem like a flock Thou leddest thy people like a flock And ô that Gods people would be like Gods people here like a flock And to that end that they would without peevishnesse or prejudice be led Ezek. 13.7 Matth. 26.31 as God in all ages has led his people by Moses and Aaron Magistrates and Ministers for seeing there is no infallible spirit to direct us in our dayes unlesse in the Popes chair or the Anabaptists stool it 's the surest and best way of government God has now left us to follow at least to submit to the judgements of such men as God in the way of providence has according to the judgement of men able to discern endowed with gifts suitable to places of publick instruction or direction For self-conceited fancy and pretended revelation or authorization by the Spirit onely is the mother of all confusion and delusion And ô that Magistrates whom God has designed to rule would lead his people like a flock in unity with lenity So as to be neither Jehu's driving too furiously lest they over-drive the sheep nor yet Gallio's ruling too negligently betraying their own authority together with the peoples security That Ministers would study Unity the end of their Office Ephes 4.16 Ephes 4.16 that the whole body of the Church being compacted not distracted into factions and fractions which we know hinder thriving by dislocation may grow to the increase of it self in love And that people would know them that are over them as Pastors and Shepherds in the Lord hearken to them Heb. 13.7 17. 1 Pet. 5.4 following their faith and sound Doctrine seeing they must render an account of their soules to the chief Shepherdat the last day that they may do it with joy not grief of heart which will not be profitable for them My Lords ye are this day to drive the chariot of the Sun of righteousnesse betwixt these two Tropicall points Lenity Vnity ye are to sing Davids song in the me●n of mercy and judgement will I sing Psal 101.1 Let mercy have the precedency go before but let judgement pursue and overtake evil doers To take out the Prophet Micah's lesson Micah 6.8 To love mercy and to do justice so to love mercy as to do justice so to do justice as still to love mercy To which purpose forget not Aaron he 's your brother The benefit of the Clergy as it 's commonly called is as I conceive under your Lordships favour a prudent mitigation of the severity of our Lawes wisely intwisted into the administration of justice by our fore-seeing fore-fathers Net totam se● vitutem ferre possumus nec totam libertatem who knew our temper that we could endure neither all lenity nor all severity Too much liberty will make us wilde too much severity will make us mad Medio tutissimus ibis the mean is safest best Lead us then in a word like a flock with lenity lest we be worried by our keepers with unity lest we worry one another So aime at unity as to use lenity so exercise lenity as still to preserve unity So shall ye be as gods knowing good and evill fit Instruments and Representatives of him that led his people like a flock by the hand c. FINIS June 25 1653. Imprimatur Edmund Calamy