Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	manner_n	zeal_n	zealous_a	26	3	9.2577	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81240	Eliah's abatement: or, Corruption in the saints. Discovered and distinguished in a sermon, preached at Chatham in Kent, at the Funeral of that faithful minister of the Gospel, Mr. Gaulter Roswell, M.a. late preacher there. / By Tho. Case, M.A. and rector of Giles in the Fields.	Case, Thomas, 1598-1682.	1658 (1658)	Wing C828; Thomason E1882_1; ESTC R209895	50,345	165

be fetcht from heaven to consume them For which though they pretend the Example of Elijah yet their Lord observed the distemper and rebukes it Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of q. d. Alas you are mistaken in the frame of your own hearts this impression is not zeal but anger It was another kind of spirit which acted Elijah when he call'd for fire from heaven upon the two Captains and their fifties an invisible flame of just zeal first fell from heaven upon his heart before he satcht those visible flames from heaven upon their heads There was cause enough to justifie so severe an execution The wicked King Abaziah which sent those Pursevants for Elijah with his Grand-father Saul had forsaken the Oracle of God to consult with the Devill 2 Kings 1.6 The Servants of the same spirit with their Master come in a proud imperious way The King saith come down with the Kings mandamus they think to command heaven it selfe Yea while they seem to give him his title thou man of God they do at once deride his function and blaspheme his God q. d we will see what a man-God you are and whether your God can deliver you out of our hand will ye obey the King or will ye not Come down or we will fetch you down now there is nothing to determine the controversie but a signal testimony from God himself And therefore to vindicate Gods glory and his own Commission Elijah imprecates fire from heaven and God by this flaming answer bears witnesse to the just frame of his spirit in so direfull a revenge This our Saviour found wanting in his disciples and therefore rebuketh their passion rather then commendeth their zeale Ye know not what spirit ye are of It were easie to multiply instances but much work is yet behind I would speak somewhat I say concerning our deceased brother and there is need of it for many there be I have too much cause to fear who themselves transported with passion and prejudice while they study parties more then truth having mens persons in admiration because of advantage would make others and themselves believe that there was no other parallel to be found between these venerable servants and Saints of God and our deceased brother save only in their sinful infirmities and especially that of passion It cannot be denied but that as he was in the general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of like passions with other men so in speciall that that black adust humour of choler held the predominacy in his individual Constitution which many times gave a tincture to his discourse action and which standers-by more censorious then candid interpreted to his unjust prejudice But there is two things I shall without blushing take the liberty to speak by way of just vindication both to his person and the doctrine before us sc 1. That blessed be God there is another and more honourable parallel to be held out to the world between these Saints of God and our beloved brother 2. That the affection of Anger rightly qualified and managed is of singular use in the life and work of a Christian especially of a Minister of the Gospel First The Parallel I shall now for the just and necessary vindication of his Name and Ministry hold out to the world a Parallel between Elias and our Reverend Brother A Parallel not of Equality but Conformity not of Rivalry but of Reality to which my conscience doth subscribe as in the presence of God and to which I am confident the consciences also of all judicious and impartial Christians that knew him will bear witness And why should any man conceive it a presumption in me and a boldness almost to sacriledge to mention a parallel between Elijah and this servant of Jesus Christ Considering 1. They were both but Men. The Text saies Elias was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man of like passions with us It is no in jury to persons of the highest sanctity to look upon them as men like our selves since the Holy Ghost himself is here our president 2. It is the same Grace of God which we eye honour in both One star differs from another in glory yet it is the same light which fills the stars though of different magnitude 3. Sic parvis componere magna solebam Such comparisons do not level them in full and just proportions but compareth them in a gradual and Evangelical Analogy and likeness 4. Especially above all in as much as the Children of God even in their state of mortality are not onely exhorted to but celebrated for Conformity and likeness to their Heavenly Father Be you perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Matth. 5. ult 1 Pet. 1.15 And be ye Holy as he that hath called you his Holy ther 's the exhortation And 2 Cor. 3. ult We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory ther 's their commendation Warranted by these and the like scriptural considerations I address my self to the Parallel A Parallel 1. Elias was a man of Extraordinary sanctity and holiness Enoch-like he walked with God a man of much acquaintance and converse in Heaven even while he was on earth Such in his degree was our Reverend Brother He was a man of singular piety he could say with as much simplicity as most of his brethren in the flesh I believe truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ 1 John 1.3 I am not afraid on his behalf to appeal to his Adversaries as once Christ did to his hearers setting aside humane frailties John 8.46 which of you could convince him of sin I am confident he is gone to Heaven with as unsteined an holiness as most of the servants of Christ ever did within our knowledge Secondly Par. 2 Elias was an eminent Prophet of God to whom God did in a special manner reveal and communicate his counsels and secrets This faithful servant of Christ was a Minister of the Gospel de Arcanis Dei a Minister I say by Scriptural ordination no intruder or up-start of the times who like the false Prophets of old run before they are sent Jer. 23.16 and speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. This servant of God was not so but as his Call was from God both inward and outward so the secret of the Lord was with him God was pleased to reveal much of himself and of the mysteries of the Kingdome of our Lord Jesus Christ unto him which he did faithfully communicate to the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made him overseer Act. 20.20 and kept back nothing that was profitable unto them but shewed them and taught them publickly and from house to house a man he was of more then ordinary

abilities both of gifts and graces for the work of his Ministerie Thirdly par 3 Elias was a father and Chief Governour of the Colledge wherein the children of the Prophet were trained up 2 King 2. Our dear Brother was though not a father yet a son of the Prophets though not the Governour yet an Alumnus in the Scools of the Prophets where he improved his time and studies to a great maturity to give him his due he was an excellent Scholar both in the Arts in the Tongues and generally verst in other kinds of learning as those that were intimately acquainted with him can bear witness He had a notable faculty in Poetry though his intention and attendance upon the Queen of all sciences and professions the study of Divinity allowed him no leasure to indulge his fancy that way as thinking it excentrick to his heavenly motion He was singularly verst as generally in the Controversies between the Papists Reformed Churches so specially in the Controversies of the times which rendred him very able quick potent to convince gain-sayers who in all their congresses with him Act. 6.10 were not able as it was said of Steven to resist the wisdom and the Spirit whereby he spake The Jesuites save that their Masters have taught them this piece of their Mystery that what they cannot cleer by argument Non persuadebis etiamsi persuaseris they will darken by clamour that whatsoever the premises be they will keep the conclusion and whoever have the better yet they will cry victory In the next place Par. 4 Elijah was a powerful Prophet His very name imports it Eli-jah which signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My strong God Jehovah or the Lord in the 1 King 17.1 it is Elijahu that is the Lord He is my strong God God indeed was strong in Elijah God manifested and magnified his mighty power in Elijahs person mighty in DEED working Miracles He called down fire from Heaven 2 King 1.12 14. 1 King 17.14.15 16. once and again He multiplieth the widows oil in the cruse and the meal in the barrel as Elijahs Lord afterward multiplied the loaves and the fishes He divideth the waters of Jordan with his Mantle 2 King 2.8 The mighty power of God indeed rested on him for even the fire and water obeyed him He was mighty in WORD mighty Evidence whereof you have 1 King 18.39 whereas by one Sermon he brought back many thousands of the Idolatrous Israelites to the acknowledgement and worship of the true God a like instance of Divine power afterwards was that in the Apostle in the day of Pentecost who by one Sermon Act. 2. converted 3000 Souls Such a monument of Divine power was this holy Prophet Elijah Hence John the Baptist after him inherits his name Our Lord himself baptiseth him with it as it were This is Elias which was for to come Matth. 11.14 the exposition of which riddle so it was to the Jews with their very Rabbies also you have from the mouth of the Angel Luk. 1.17 vers 13. He shall go before Him in the Spirit and power of Elias That promise of God to the Jews Matth. 4.5 Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord was not to be literally understood as the Scribes doted Matth. 17.10 as if Elias had been personally to rise again from the dead before the Revelation of the Messiah but foretold of John the Baptist that he should stand up in the Spirit and power of Elijah as the Harbenger of Jesus Christ and wherein was this power to be exerted Mark that for it is very observable Luk. Luke 16.17 vers 17. 1.16 Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God and to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just therein the Baptist was another Elias for as Elias turned back the Idolatrous Israelites to the true worship of the Lord their God so did John the Baptist Matth. 3.1 by preaching the doctrine of repentance thereby preparing them for the Ministry of Jesus Christ turn many to the Lord so it is applied in the third verse of that third Chapter of St. Matthew This is he that was spoken of by Isaias the Prophet c. Thus John the Baptist was the Successour of Elias not so much in doing miracles as in his powerful Preaching his Ministry was a powerful Ministry how did he thunder against the Pharisees Sadduces who came to his Baptism Matth 3.7 O generation Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come c. A terrible Exordium and the whole Sermon is of the same strein startling and convincing full of terrour I have not time to read it much less to run a Paraphrase upon it This gracious servant of the Lord whom we have this day followed to the Sepulchre was Successour as I may so say both to Elias and John the Baptist not as I said in working Miracles but in a powerful Ministry He was a Boanerges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Ministry was a thundring Ministry And I would to God we had more of them there is need of them Thunder they say purgeth the air and if so we have need of more such sons of thunder amongst us and not such as will preach placentia unto people sow pillows under their elbows and sing men to hell with sweet Lullabies of peace peace when there is no peace Our air is pestilentially infectious not onely in the Physicians sence who tell us that the cause of the late mortality among us yet not universally healed though blessed be the God that heareth prayers wonderfully abated was the infection of the air but in the Divines sence our spiritual Physicions who tell us our climate is mortally infected with the Pests of Heresies and Blasphemies and with the putrid stinch of all manner of poisonous lusts and this is the fatal source of all our plagues both in Church State This our precious brother was deeply sensible of and hence it was that his spirit was warmed within him to a more than ordinary degree of zeal in his Ministry that so he might be an healer in the land of his nativity in the places where he lived His Ministry was a startling an awakning convincing warming clear instructive edifying Ministry And it wanted not success through grace God set a seal to his Ministry and he saw of the travel of his soul in all the places whither Providence sent him I hope in this place there be many living monuments of the power of God in his Ministry As his preaching bare witness to God so God bare witness to his preaching in raising up a spiritual seed thereby to his elder Brother the Lord Jesus I am confident there be many here as

God and of Religion the concernments of Jesus Christ and of mens immortal soules Indignities and affronts offered to himself did not tempt out the fervour and acrimony of his spirit as those which were put upon Christ and his precious Truths If so your consciences cannot gainsay it call him no more an angry passionate cholsrick man but call him a faithful plain-dealing zealous Minister of Jesus Christ lest otherwise God hear and be angry and judge you for your passion and partialty And lastly Rule 5 When the warmth and keennesse of a mans spirit is acted not so much against the persons as against the wickedness of men who hold the truth of God in unrighteousnesse Call it not anger and passion bat zeal for God and compassion on mens souls Passion le ts flye its arrows against the persons of men zeal only against their sins Indeed sins and persons are so near that a man can hardly distinguish sometimes between the person and the sin to avoyd the danger therefore let men stand furtther off from their sins that he that strikes at their sins may not with the same blow be judged to strike at their persons also But this is that which I say the heat of anger must be against the crime rather then against the person and when it is mixt with grief which sets pity and prayer on work for the offending party as it is said of Christ Mark 3.5 then it is pure zeal and not distemper'd anger I have done both with the Sermon and with the occasion Onely in as much as the Passions of the Regenerate as I hinted before are not all over regenerate nor have I made this Apology for the Saints in general or this our brother for whose loss we mourn this day in particular as if I conceived there were no sin in their Anger no strange fire in their passion yea because the Saints of God discover much distemper in their affections and passions sometimes even when they act for God for which they judge themselves bitterly in the presence of God for the preventing of mistakes on the right hand or on the left give leave to adde a word or two of Direction now in the close for your better improvement of the doctrine It is twfold sc 1. A word of Caution 2. A word of Comfort Caution 1. To all in general 2. To the Saints in particular To all in generall First 1. Caution general take heed of mistaking your infirmities take heed of putting a softer name upon your Corruptions then God doth and the Scripture doth this is the general deceit amongst Christians Sin takes sanctuary under infirmity Every wicked man calls his Iusts his gross sins his infirmities The Drunkard sayes it is my infirmity the Swearer sayes it is my infirmity the Adulterer alas what would you have him do it is his infirmity sic in caeteris Every prophane wretched miscreant hath taken hold of the horns of the Altar and there he cries alas this is my infirmity Brethren take heed say not infirmity when it is more then infirmity Quest When is that When sin is more then infirmity Answ 1. When men are more sollicitous for pardon then for Cure they are more then infirmities if pardon alone would quiet thy spirit without healing thou art under a mortall disease The Saints cry heal me O Lord and I shall be healed and this is an argument of their sincerity desire of pardon only argueth Self-Love desire of Cure argueth love to Jesus Christ desire of pardon argueth men fear hell only but desire of healing argueth men fear God defire of pardon only sheweth men would be content to live in sin if they durst desire of Cure shewes men would not live in sin if they might Secondly much more when men study the satisfaction of their lusts In exordio adolescentrae petieram à te castitatem continentiam c. more then the mortification of them they are more then infirmities Augustine confesseth of himself before Coversion he prayed sometimes for the gift of chastity but there was something within that secretly whispered Timebam si ne●citò exaudires sanares me à morbo boncupis●entiae quam expleri malebam quam extingui not yet Lord for sayes he I was afraid lest God should hear me too soon and cure in me that distemper which I had rather should have been saisfied then mortified This is the temper of every unregenerate person Conviction may make them pray against their lusts sometime but love of sin makes them indulge them they cannot find in their hearts to lay violent hands upon them they be yet as their own flesh and no man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it when men are so tenderly affected to their Corruptions they are more then infirmities sin reigns when men dare not displease it nor rise up in opposition against it Thirdly Third note of reigning sin sin is more then infirmity when men are impatient of Conviction when men are so tender of their corruptions that a man must not touch them He that toucheth them toucheth the apple of their eyes Gracious hearts are glad of conviction let the righteous smite me Psal 141. it shall be a precious oyle c. When reproof is a wound which men cannot bear it is a sign sin is alive and whole within them Sin is then King ●wor● the soul Eccles 8.4 when a man must not say unto it what dost thou Prov. 3.31 and against which there is no rising up The more any corruption is indulged the lesse infirmitie is in it Fourthly Fourth note when a man or a woman is never troubled with their corruptions but when wrath is upon them then they are more then infirmities The godly go mourning under their secret corruptions when the Sun shines upon their Tabernacles with the warmest influences yea when God is pleased to shine into their hearts with the clearest beams of love the more sensible the Saints are of Gods love the more they hate their own corruptions because they make them unlike to God They that are never troubled with corruption but when wrath is upon them it is wrath that troubles them and not corruption this is not infirmity Carnal people are never good but when they are under the rod and then not because their sins displease God but because Gods judgements displease them Fiftly when Infirmities serve men only for apologies they are more then infirmities when a man can say of any corruption it is my infirmity and acquiesce there it is very dangerous This is certain men in nature do not sit down patient under infirmities because infirmities Corruption is all wed where infirmity is the apology and allowed corruption is more then infirmity The Saints infirmites are their afflictions their burdens not their apologies Oh wretch that I am Rom 7.24 who shall deliver me c. Sixthly Sixth note when