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	power_n	soul_n	7,217	5	4.8221	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A87561	Reformation's remora; or, Temporizing the stop of building the temple. A sermon preached before the Right Honourable the House of Peers, in the Abbey-Church at Westminster, upon the 25th of February, 1645. being the day appointed for their solemne and publike humiliation. / By William Jenkyn, Master of Arts, and minister of Gods Word at Christ-Church London.	Jenkyn, William, 1613-1685.	1646 (1646)	Wing J650; Thomason E325_3; ESTC R10356	31,252	45

maligning that cause of reformation which we seem'd to stand for But was not the motion of the living creature carnall interest in this running wheel Were we not then in a low condition and did we not want the assistance of our Scotish brethen and was not this the way to secure our selves from those who were suspected at home to discern betwixt our friends and our foes and to assure to us our party against the common enemy But behold when our ends were accomplisht our Brethren come in and ingaged for and with us the enemy discourag'd thereby and brought low in a word when the living creature of carnall interest made a stop what regard is had either that they who take the Covenant observe it or that they who do not enter into it should be discountenanced rather now are not they in some places suspected that are most forward to take and observe it and is' t not now the way of reputation for tendernes of conscience and a new light to refuse it 2. The publike professions to the world were formerly very frequent and fervent for setting up a pious Ministry the maintaining of them and learning the opposing of sinfull liberty the suppressing of errours the not laying the golden rains of discipline upon every mans neck this wheel went on very nimbly also but did it not move according to the motion of carnall interest was not the open adversary at that time growing and was not this the probablest means to answer the objection of our malignant enemies who laboured to infuse into the people that all learning and order would shortly come to nothing if the Parliament prevail'd and had we then any other way to satisfie our friends and to stop the mouths of our enemies but by publike appearing against them in these professions But behold when by the goodnes of God the common adversary is brought low and is weak in his armes as in his arguments he not able to hurt either by tongue or pen in a word when carnall interest maketh a stop how few and small are the encouragements of learning how ordinary a thing is it to see illiterate mechanicks to invade the ministeriall function without controlment what a liberty is taken for sin both in opinions and practices every one professing and performing as they lift 3. How strong was out fraternall union and amiable affection toward our dear Brethren of Scotland at the beginning of this Parliament how did we abhor the throwing in a mite of contribution into the treasury of an unnaturall war against them who groning with us under the same burdensome tasks and task-masters were the first that adventured the easing of both Afterward what Covenanting was there to joyn together as brethren to maintain this brotherly accord and to bring such to punishment who endeavoured to sowe division betwixt the two Nations This wheel went on very evenly and swiftly along time but the living creature of carnall police was in it too we wanted their assistance we could not hurt them but we hurt our selves their appearing for us nay not against could not but exceedingly daunt the common adversary but when carnall policie made a stop and interest went on no further that way what coolings were there in our love what stoppings in our bowels what frequent jealousies and suspitions whispered against them how ordinary to hear every wretched sectary to traduce them and to rumour their self-seeking and advantage as if a notion a trifle in comparison could throw down that love which heretofore such vast offers could not so much as stagger Blame me not though a Minister for mentioning things that seem so secular Know friend I have taken the Covenant and still remember the third article 4. Our reformation in the destructive part of it to Episcopacy and scandalous Ministers was prosecuted with much eagernesse spectatours rejoyced to see our zeal for the Lord in putting down them with their crosses Images and crucifixes but did not this wheel move also according to the spirit of carnall interest were not the men and their usurped power lately very burdensome and prejudiciall to us to our estates and liberties not to say to our honours and rule and was not the ejection of those who knew how to fish for tithes though not for souls a very taking plausible thing interest agreed with it and the breaking down of Images did not bite but when interest makes a stop our reformation stops also We throw down the superstitious Priests and their Altars with their many idolatrous reliques but doth our reformation proceed to deal with Jeroboams calves too to prohibit effectually the divulging and scattering of all those many blasphemous opinions which are not only cried up in 〈◊〉 and Bethel but are scattered up and down from Dan to Beersheba from one end of the Kingdom to the other Are not the second and third persons in Trinity as much dishonoured by blotting them out of our faith as by picturing them in a window 5. Our care and love in encouraging the godly and painfull Ministers of the Gospel was heretofore very common and full out as commendable as common A faithfull Minister that stood out under the time of Episcopall tyranny by opposing himself to the innovations thereof was a man of desires in the beginning of these wars This wheel went or very nimbly too but was not there a living creature of carnall policie that moved with it was not respecting of godly Ministers the way to be honoured before the people and were not they the men that were fittest to move to contributions and improve their power for exhorting to assist in the cause of late so much indangered But when they could do no more and by the goodnes of God other means were found out for releeving of us in a word when interest made a stop our love to Ministers was soon at a stand nay declined witnes not only the ungracefull and reproachfull language which every uncontrolled sectary hath inured his tongue and pen to cast upon them but the deniall of necessary subsistence to themselves and theirs in many places where they who have wept and pray'd and preach down Antichrist are how accounted the only Antichristian burdens My Lords if upon inquiry the serving of our designes shall be found to steer and stop the cause and course of Reformation let it be your noble care to oppose an enemy that for much opposeth God himself Let not Religion wait upon your carnall interests but let them be subservient to Religion Nay have no other designe but the full excelling of Christ Let not the salvation no not of your own souls be your greatest end Rejoyce that God gives you any thing before which you may preferre Iesus Christ Let not so many choice endowments as me thinks I behold in this honourable presence of nobility magnamity valour policy be made vassals to so unworthy an end as carnall interest Set up a building of glory to Christ upon the ruin if such a ruin were possible of all you are and have Learn to perish that the glory of Christ may live walke in the way of Christ though never so rugged delight no further in any thing you are or ●e then that thereby God may be honoured Go not the way of interest which is gone but the way of Christ which should he gone Understand the infinite disproportion betwixt Christ and any thing that may stop your serving of him Study what poor nothings of comfort the sweerest delights are that would allure you Study what poor nothings of misery the forest sufferings are that would affright you from serting up the Lords house Labour for unmixed aims in all holy undertakings let Christ be sweet for himself love his service for its beauty not its clothes in going about it let nothing else be your scope and then nothing will divert you Aim not at profit so gain will not allure you not at pleasure so ease will not corrupt you not at friends so favour will not seduce you Serve not the time but set up the Temple Let the Temple of a Scripture not a politike reformation be erected 't is for such an one we have Covenanted namely for one according to Scripture Consult only with Scripture-politikes for building of God an house demolish that Babel of a confused toleration of all practices 't is true 't will certainly fall of it self in time but if let alone till then 't will undoubtedly crush and bury us under its own ruins Labour that the power of godlines by a powerfull Ministery may be diffused thorow the whole land to this end let learning be encouraged let the Universities enjoy though not pomp yet their priviledges and for their streams of revenues and maintenance let them neither be dried up nor diverted cherish and encourage there a choise number of Divines for controversall Divinity remember the usefullnes of Whitakers Fulk Reinolds not to speak of other threes to the Church of God Let those Prophets be as false as malignant who have foretold the ruin of learning who but Christ deserves the service of excellent parts consider Satan is now putting forth his ultimos conatus improves his utmost endeavours against us You have I hope foyl'd him with the sword let him not overmatch you at the pen forward the ordination of Ministers beleeve it my Lords we spend upon the old stock Ministers die and waste apace and shall not others stand up in their rooms never were there times more prodigall of laying out of Ministers and more penurious in laying out for Ministers let places be supplied with Ministers and Ministers not starved for want of supplies from their places Let the Ordinances of Christ be advanced in power purity and plenty say not the time is not come These people here in the text had small cause to say so but you have lesse You have no enemy that may rationally be conjectured able to stop you in the worke of God the rubs are removed take heed of being wrong byast the stops pretended are purely imaginary and proceed from prejudice not from judgement FINIS

life as Augustine excellently God makes the world bitter to Ministers by sufferings because they make it so sweet to wicked mgn by flatteries Beside flattery is no other then Court-idolatry and why should this piece of it be longer lived then the rest especially among those that professe a detestation of it in every part My Lords Your only worke that now remains for God hath done the rest to your hand is the setting up the Temple and the only stop is the serving of the time My text is a harp tuned by the finger of God himself and 't is to drive away this evil spirit of temporizing in a time of Temple building I confesse he that of late used that harp wanted the hand of David and therefore 't was his fear he should not do the worke of David but I and sure he hath not wanted the spear of Saul and therefore 't is his hope that he hath endeavoured to do it My Lords I desire to rejoyce in any suffering for the service of your souls I consess my ruins would be very unworthy to set up the least peece of abuilding of glory to Jesus Christ or to make the smallest addition to the structure of his Temple but may they in the least conduce to such an end my enemies though against their wills endeavour my happines The Lord give you a discerning eye 'twixt friends and flatreries 'twixt the Mephibosheths and the Zibahs of these times Dishearten not your plain-hearred friends who dare not wear it to save their souls much lesse to thwart an opposite way or to lay rubs in the way of Reformation dare not I say break their Covenant or be false to their own principles That God would increase the numbers of such as for him serve you and your resolutions to serve him and love them is the prayer My Lords of him who is your servant for the good of your souls WILLIAM JENKYN A SERMON Before the Right Honourable HOVSE OF PEERS at their Solemn Fast Feb. 25. 1645. HAGGAI 1.1 2. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying This people saith the time is not come the time that the Lords house should be built GOD had restored to the Jews their own land Reversi ad patriam redierant ad ingenium Calv. yet they were regardlesse of restoring to God his worship in their land They had indeed laid the foundation of the Temple Ezra 3.10 but they meeting with discouragements by reason of Artaxerxes his prohibition ceased the further prosecution of that work till the second year of Darius Ezra 4.24 Ezra 6.13 14. Haggai opposeth this cessation and sloth of theirs and laboureth the reformation of it in this Prophesie it being indeed the main errand of this Prophet to stir them up to re-ingage themselves in that work This neglect of theirs he opposeth remarkeably in the eleven first verses of this first chapter and that two wayes First by a description of Secondly by a disswasion from this their sinfull flothfullnes 1. The description of this sinne is set down in my text 2. The disswasion from it in the 9 verses following And that two wayes First ab inhonesto injusto the sinfull unseemlines and unfitnes of it vers 4. Is it time for you to dwell in your ceiled houses and this house lye waste Secondly The Prophet disswades from this sin à pernicioso from the hurtfullnes of it to themselves My text contains the description of the peoples sin in this their sinfull cessation from the work of the Temple Wherein you may observe four parts First The accuser or who it is that chargeth them with this fault viz. The Lord of hosts speaking by the Prophet thus speaketh the Lord of hosts Secondly The parties accused this people Thirdly The evidence or testimony that God produceth to prove the accusation that is their own saying this people say Fourthly The crime or the fault it self of which they are accused the time is not come that the Lords house c. Wherein there are two things considerable First The greatnes of the fault their not building the Lords house Secondly The smallnes and slightnes of their excuse or pretext why they did not build the Lord house viz because in their opinion the time is not yet come The three first parts I shall handle so far as they make way to the fourth which is that I intend mainly to prosecute First The accuser from whom this accusation issued wherein take notice of two things first Who he was the Lord of hosts Secondly how he expresseth his will and that was by speaking thus speaketh c. The first contains the describing of his name The second contains the discovering of his minde From the first Observ viz. the description of his name the Lord of hosts observe In reproving of sin we must fetch our commission from the Lord. None of the Prophets undertook this task without a speaking from the Lord hereby reproofs will be administred with more confidence and comfore confidence that they may be successfull and comfort though they should not be successfull in benefiting the party reproved And hence the reprovers of sin in others Vse may be instructed with what weapon to fight against mens lusts Not with the leaden dagger of their own humours and pleasures and passions but with the two edged sword of the word of the Lord. And secondly for the reproved Vse they must look beyond man in the most unwelcome reprehensions that are administred unto them they must not be wroth with the seer but say with Hezekiah good is the word of the Lord. If David saw God in Shemyes cursing which was by Gods permission how much more should the greatest of you see God in the Prophets reprehensions which are by Gods commission you must not blame the medicine but your own distemper My words saith God are good and do good to him that walketh uprightly Mich. 2.7 Secondly from the party accusing in the description of his name take notice he is called the Lord of hosts which title the Prophet may here put upon God for a double reason Either first to afright them from this sin of slothfullnesse in setting up the Temple he being able with his hosts to avenge himself upon their profane negligence Or secondly The Prophet may use this title the Lord of hosts to convince them of their sin in neglecting for any discouragements which they met withall the setting up of the Temple of that God who is the Lord of all the hosts of the world and therefore able abundantly to assist them in his own work and to keep the greatest adversaries from hurting them when they were imployed about it If we take the first to be the Prophets reason then we may observe Observ That in reproving of wilfull neglectings of God in his worship we must hold God forth as a Lord of hosts armies strengths one that is able to destroy any that shall neglect temple-building Thus the

light of a consuming fire that truth which we would not read by the light of an informing word and if we will shut cur eyes when a beautifull reformation is offered destruction shall one day open them and let us see how blear-eyd and deformed that is which we have so imbraced in the night of our ignorance and prejudice Stella in Luc. Carnall reason and pretexts in the things of God are but as spectacles before a mans eyes when he is going upon a narrow bridge standing upon a deep and wide river which making the passage seem broader then it is turns the passenger when he adventureth upon a supposed breadth Could but Satan now delade us like that buyer Prov. 20.14 and perswade us that 't is naught 't is naught this strict precise burdensome reformation is not comparable to such an one deckt with gain honour wisedom of self-contrivance liberty from the yoak of Christ how would he afterward rejoyce that he had cheated us of such a jewel and put into our hands instead of it such a pibble Thus of the first thing in this poor excuse for their not building the Temple it notes pretext and covering 2. This cover and pretext of theirs The second particular in the fourth part that the time was not come notes procrastination and delay Put offs 't is as much as if they had said We intend to do it hereafter but not as yet Another time but not now We deny not the building of Gods house but only the present building of it in this very juncture of time we stop here No worke should admit of so few stops and delayes as Temple-worke if we regard the serious nature of it and no worke doth admit of so many by reason of the sinfull nature of man Temple-worke Observ Ezra Nebemiab passion is commonly a retarded and delayed worke The advancing of Gods worship in their Temple-administrations how commonly was it interrupted by the oppositions of enemies informers against the Jews deriders of them Proclamations and edicts of potent Monarchs against them at all times almost in themselves there were timorous dull remisse time-serving spirits and thus 't was in Hezekiah's reformation the Priests were sometimes negligent and delaying to reform 2 Chron. 29.10 11. the people at other times laughed the posts to scorn whom he sent to stir up the people There is a great plausibility in procrastination It is much credit and little cost credit in regard of the credulous hearer and the piety of the promise little cost for 't is but a promise a word a pretence a blast good words are good cheap Machiavel lik't it well to be a pretender The credulous multitude thinks a thing is done as soon as 't is spoke and there may be flatterers that cry up a promise as if it had the integrity and reality of a performance and cause by their soothing representations of things as with spectacles great letters to apppear in a very small print There is in the heart a naturall listnesnes from and opposition unto a right reformation The advising and directing to it and reproof for want of it are ever hard sayings when it comes to the performance must not the doing be much harder There is something of imposing on us what we would not bear something of removing from us that we would keep in every true reformation A reformation that is true is alway bitter more or lesse if it be mera 't will be amara Isa 4. 〈◊〉 31.9 if reformation be without a tooth 't is a shrewd signe it wants truth God comes with a spirit of burning purging when with the worke of reforming No wonder that when men must be at so much cost in raising up and maintaining a Temple for God they must be at the expence of time estate reputation interest haply prejudice to some vocations must follow especially when many a dear though beastly lust must daily be brought to the sacrificing knife in this Temple no wonder I say though head and hand and arts and parts and all be improved to oppose it and next to the not doing of the work at all we love the not doing of it as yet The rage of many outward adversaries accompanieth this worke as well as inward oppositenes of heart There never was a candle of reformation set up but there was also a winde of opposition Gracious and consciencious reformers evermore went against the winde of the times as the tide of their own natures Any reformation that goeth on easily Vse and taketh with carnall hearts that doth alone A reformation that is pleasing to nature and goeth down sweetly that Atheists Neuters Sectaries Malignants and who not unlesse a few strict precise legalists and uniformity Doctours hot-pressers of uniformity these are the names that Satans newest and latest edition puts upon them would have set up such an one I say we have great cause to suspect as none of the best A fish that evermore goeth down the stream may be suspected for dead 't is a signe of a living fish when it goeth maketh at least against the stream A reforming that ever sutech with and goeth according to the tide of a carnall heart is dead not to say deadly What need need is there Noble Lords to helpe you forward Vse to stand by you in this great worke of setting up the spirituall Temple Temple-work is commonly delay'd worke What need is there that we should pray to you pray for you pray with you your honourable resentment of that pious Petition from the City of London did once put joys into thousands of our hearts and the truth is as your acceptance thereof abundantly raised up our hearts and hopes oh let them not fall so might the humble zeal of this famous City put courage and resolution into you when you contemplate that you have many that sue for you and to you and that minded the very same thing with you even a thing which we naturally so delay as that all incentives are too few for the forwarding thereof A great burden requires many shoulders we are certainly very inexcusable if we strive not together with you in our prayers Every step you take you will tread upon a snare every minute is accompanied with its difficulties Men Devils Hell and Earth oppose the worke we perition for the Lord quicken your spirits oyl your wheels strengthen your resolutions and increase the number of such as employ their petitions for setting up the Temple 'T is admonition Take heed of being overcome by these delayes Vse that Satan putteth in the way of setting up the Temple The worke whether we look upon its safety honour gain 1. Consideration deserves no delayes 1. For safety none ever miscarried in Christs worke unlesse for not being full and sincere and constant You may commit your self to God in this well-doing if they that went to worship in the Temple had a promise of safety certainly they shall