Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	mouth_n	speak_v	word_n	6,196	5	4.5092	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01303	The vvoman of Canaan A comfortable sermon of faith in temptations and afflictions. Preached at Saint Buttolphes without Aldersgate in London, the 15. of February. 1573. By Maister William Fulke Doctor of Diuinity and Maister of Pembrooke Hall in Cambridge.; Comfortable sermon of faith, in temptations and afflictions	Fulke, William, 1538-1589.	1611 (1611)	STC 11425; ESTC S102776	25,978	93

Gods promises and hauing receiued such aboundance of the immortall seed to bring forth so small fruite that wee are discouraged to continue our prayers if we find not present helpe as soone as wee begin to pray And that wee doubt in our hearts of the truth of Gods promises because wee feele not the execution and fulfilling of them euen at such time as we would appoint our selues Not remembring that he which hath promised to heare vs when we pray hath commanded vs to bee importunate in prayer And hath set before vs the example of the poore widdow to bee followed which hauing a matter to be heard before a wicked Iudge that feared neither God nor man yet at the length obtained iustice at his hands through her importunity And shall not God much rather deliuer his Elect that crye vnto him day and night whom hee hath promised to heare and helpe If therefore wee bee not heard at the first wee must not therefore giue ouer praying but rather increase in study and zeale of prayer knowing that it is Gods pleasure in such a case to bee ouer-come by importunate sute For if the thing wee pray for bee within the compasse of those things which hee hath promised to grant hee can no more deny our request then hee can deny himselfe if wee continue in prayer But flesh and bloud will heere obiect to weaken our faith What comfort haue I to pray when I shall bee heard I cannot tell when For I haue prayed long and find no release of my troubles but rather increase and while he deferrth his helpe I know not for what cause so long in the meane time I shall perish I were better therefore to see if I can finde any comfort else where for none I finde in him For answer wee must consider thus much that if wee looke to obtaine any helpe at Gods hands by our prayers wee must giue God this honour that hee knoweth better then wee our selues both what is meete for vs and also at what time it is best to bestow it vpon vs. For hee which knoweth all things knoweth when it is most conuenient both for his glory and for our profit to grant vs that which wee pray for And there is no louing child of God if these two might bee seperated but would preferre the glory of God before his owne profit And there is no wise man that will take vpon him to know better when his profit is to bee procured then God who is the onely wisdome himselfe But seeing these two things are alwayes linked together namely the glory of God and our saluation wee need no more to doubt that God will bee lesse carefull for our saluation then hee is zealous for his owne glory Therefore it is a vaine obiection and supposeth a meere impossibillity that wee should perish before hee send his deliuerance For God can no more forget our deliuerance in due time then hee can deface his owne glory And touching the meane time in which he suffereth vs to be afflicted that all shall turne to our euerlasting comfort for therby he trieth our faith patience obedience other vertues And the triall of our faith as S. Peter saith being much more pretious then gold which is tryed in the fire yet perisheth shal be foūd to our praise honor and glory at the appearing of our Lord Iesus Christ. And least wee should doubt to faint in trouble we are taught that God is faithfull and will not suffer vs to be tempted aboue our strength but in all perplexities and most desperate cases will open a way how we shall auoide them For as hee sendeth vs affliction and temptation with the one hand so hee will send vs strength and comfort with the other hand And this was liuely figured in the wrestling of God with Iacob where the Lord by wrestling and striuing with him seemed to fight with him with one hand and by giuing him strength not onely to abide temptations and afflictions but also to preuaile and ouer-come them hee declared that hee did sustaine him with the other hand Let vs not therefore be discomforted if God himselfe seeme to wrestle with vs and to fight against vs by sending vs great troubles and temptations for his purpose is in this most noble combate both to giue vs strength to ouer-come and also the praise of the victory as Saint Peter testifieth in the place euen now alledged Such a noble champion was this simple woman that by faith contended euen with Christ himselfe and in the end obtained the victory Declaring thereby that although shee were a cursed Cananite according to the flesh yet shee was a true Israelite by faith which preuailed euen with God himselfe Such and so wonderfull are the workes of God that when all the glory of our saluation is properly his owne yet hee vouchsafeth to giue vs such strength of faith that thereby we are receiued into part of that praise which is due vnto him but yet so that all the glory redoundeth againe from vs vnto him onely to whom properly it belongeth Well hetherto we haue heard that our Sauiour Christ refused to speake one word with his mouth and yet inwardly hee spake by his spirit to her minde It followeth now in the text That his Disciples came vnto him and besought him saying Send her away for shee cryeth after vs. Heere his Disciples doe not entreate him to shew her any fauour but onely to dispatch her either one way or other because shee made such a bawling and crying after them that they were ashamed to heare her And herein as in many other things reueiled in the history of the Gospell they take vpon them to be wiser then their maister For if he had thought it conuenient he would haue dispatched her sooner for he heard her importunate outcries as well as they but hee respected an other matter which they could not conceaue It were best therfore for men to let God alone with his owne affaires and not to presume to giue him counsell what hee hath to doe but rather to looke what he cōmandeth them to do therein to occupy their heads and their hands But such curiositie raigneth in many mens mindes that they had rather take vpon them to teach God how hee should gouerne the world then submit themselues quietly to obey his commandements But the Papists are heere to be pittied that for lack of better arguments to prooue the inuocation of Saints are faine to abuse this place of the Apostles request to haue this woman dispatched But alas with what coulor or likelihood of reason for first this woman desireth none of them all to be her spoaksman but crieth vnto the maister himselfe O Lord thou Sonne of Dauid haue mercy vpon me Secondly they make no intercession for her but onely desire that she might be sent away because she troubled them But whether she obtained her request or no all was one to

commandement of God And so it commeth to passe alway that they which are most earnest in vpholding and defending traditions and ceremonies inuented by man are most forgetfull in keeping the commandements of God But this is the iust iudgment of God against those that inuent a new worship of their owne braine That first they leese their labour that so seeke to please God and secondly that they are depriued of all right vnderstanding because they haue presumed to be wiser then God And therefore our Sauiour Christ confuteth them by the testimony of Esay where God complaineth that the hypocriticall people came neere vnto him with their mouth and honoured him with their lippes but their heart was farre from him and in vaine doe they worship me saith God while they teach doctrine that are the precepts of men Therefore I wil againe doe a maruellous worke in this people euen a maruellous worke and a wonder for the wisdome of their wisemen shall perish and the vnderstanding of the prudent men shall be hid And as the same Prophet threatneth in another place Their eyes shall bee blinded that they shall not see their eares stopped that they shall not heare their hearts made grosse that they shall not vnderstand least they see with their eyes and vnderstand with their hearts and bee conuerted and God should heale them This got the high Priests Scribes and Pharisiee by multiplying their ceremonies and namely ablutions and washings It is true that God in the law commanded diuerse ablutions and washings which did rather testifie their vncleanesse then purge away their filthinesse but they had added many others as washing of cups and cruises dishes and platters brasen vessels and tables and often washing of their hands before they did eate and especially if they had come from the market they might not eate before they had washed their hands which things they obserued not as ciuill customes pertaining to bodily cleanlinesse but as religious ceremonies belonging to inward holynesse and therefore our Sauiour Christ doth so sharply reprooue them And least the simple mindes of his Disciples and other the good tractable people should haue any more scruple of conscience in such vaine outward obseruations he declareth that true holynesse consisteth in no such matter for that which entereth into the mouth defileth not the man but those things that come out of the mouth are they which defile a man For such meates as are receaued into the mouth they are carried into the stomacke and from thence are cast into the draught so that they come not neer the soule spirit of a man but those things that come out of the mouth as euill deuises whordoms adulteries murthers thefts slāders false-witnesse bearing blasphemies such other they come from the hart soule of man therfore they polute a man indeed Wherefore when the proud disdainfull Scribes and Pharisies were offended with his words hee willed his Disciples to let them alone as blind guides of the blind and he himselfe departed from them into the coasts of Tyre and Sydon His purpose was according to the will of his man-hood as Saint Marke declareth to haue beene secret and not openly knowne For although he was appointed of God to be the light of the Gentils and the glory of his people Israel yet for as much as the due time was not yet come in which he should be shewed to the Gentils before the resurrection he was content in the person of the Mediator to keepe himselfe within the bounds of his calling But hee could not bee hid altogether because God had appointed this woman of Canaan to finde him out which thing from Christ by his diuine knowledge could not be hidden And heere the wonderfull secret of Gods Iudgment is to be considered while he walked openly in the land of Iewry amongst the chosen people to whom he was promised and allured all men to come vnto him he findeth but a few in comparison of the multitude that with-stood him which regarded to be pertakers of his grace which hee offered But so soone as hee steppeth out of Iewry among the Gentils desiring not to be knowne hee is found out by a woman which in a manner compelleth him to bestow his grace vpon her when he denieth it The circumstances being weighed and compared with them from whom he came doth set forth their blockish blindnesse and also marueilously commend her inuincible faith They were wise men she was a simple woman they were learned she was ignorant they were Iewes she was a Gentile they were of the blessed seed of Abraham she was of the cursed race of Canaan they were of the chosen people of Israell shee was of the excommunicate and cast-out people of the Cananits they were brought vp in the knowledge of God and his lawes euen from their infancie shee was brought vp in the superstitions of Idolatry they were Doctors and teachers of Gods people shee had but small knowledge as one that was an Heathen woman and therefore might not come into the congregation where Gods people were taught Yet they reiected Christ when he was offered shee followed Christ when hee departed from her They were Infidels she was faithfull and endued with such faith as might bee a shame to all the Israelites that began so long before her and yet were left so farre behind her For of her it might be said which our Sauiour Christ speaketh of the faith of the Centurion Verily I haue not found such faith in Israell The Centurion was an Heathen man a Romaine a man of warre that came to subdue the slauish nation of the Iewes yet God gaue him so great faith that hee excelled euen the Isralites themselues And surely if the circumstances of this poore womans faith be considered it shall appeare farre more excellent then his And especially if wee behold with what bitter temptations her faith was examined and tried wee shall plainly confesse how farre it passed for her faith was tried vnto the vttermost And first with great and extreame aduersity for her daughter was miserably tormented with a Diuell Good Lord what a temptation was this to her that was of the cursed stock of the Cananites which Gods people were commanded vtterly to destroy and to make no league or couenant with them then hauing newly forsaken the religion of her fore-fathers and people where shee liued and lately receiued the religion of the Iewes What a great temptation I say was it to her that her daughter should bee possessed with the diuell shee might either haue thought that shee had made an euill change of her old religion to bee thus welcomed by the diuell into a new religon or else that God the author of this religion would not accept her to bee one of his worshippers being a cursed Cananite and therefore suffered the diuel to haue such power ouer her daughter as that he did wholy possesse her and miserably torment