Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	peter_n	satan_n	tune_v	20	3	16.2870	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35389	An exposition with practical observations upon the three first chapters of the book of Iob delivered in XXI lectures at Magnus neare the bridge, London, by Joseph Caryl ...	Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.	1643 (1643)	Wing C754; ESTC R33345	463,798	518

husband Curse God and die But could Job die when he listed that she biddeth him curse God and die What meanes this language Some interpret her meaning to be this die by thy owne hand destroy thy selfe as sons of Belial use to say goe hang thy selfe murther thy selfe make an end of thy selfe As God by these plagues is thy Judge so be thou to end the matter thy owne executioner Or as others Curse God that so he may be provoked to take thee out of the world quickly Or curse God and die ease thy heart somewhat and give it vent by breaking out against God in blasphemies take this revenge upon him and then let him doe his worst curse God though thou die for it Lastly curse God That so the Magistrate taking notice of it thou mayest be cut off by the Sword of Justice We know blasphemers were sentenc'd to death without mercy by the Law of Moses and it is not improbable that the light of nature might carry those Nations to as high and severe a revenge against that highest sin We know Socrates was adjudged to death by the Athenians as their naturall divinity taught them for an injurious or dishonourable speech concerning their gods I conceive her counsell curse God and dye had some of these intendements in it The best of them is bad enough and so bad that it renders this Objection against them all It is objected That surely any of these carry too high a straine of wickednesse for Jobs wife surely she could not imagine much lesse have the boldnesse to offer such advice to her husband I answer first in generall A good man may have a very bad wife A husband cannot infuse holinesse or make his wife good Marriage doth not change the heart Marriage with Christ doth but not marriage with a Christian or the holiest man that ever lived Therefore that reason is not cogent Secondly this speech and a holy person are not altogether inconsistent possibly Jobs wife was a good woman though actually she spake thus wickedly Divers of the Jewish doctours have an opinion that it was not Jobs wife that spake but the devill in her likenesse I shall leave that among their other dreames It is conjectured by others though it were not the devil that spake personating his wife yet that it was the devill speaking in or by the person of his wife as he spake in or by the serpent Gen. 3. Or as persons really possest of the devill who speake Satans words and do Satans works not their own Some I say carry it thus that she was for that time not only acted but actually possest by the devill and so spake the devils language One of the Ancients is expresse to this purpose These are the devils words not the womans words which another illustrates by that in the third of Genesis where it is said The serpent said unto the woman but it was the devill that spake unto the woman by the serpent so here it is said His wife spake unto him but the truth is it was the devill spake unto him in and by his wife And if so put the language into the worst exposition given or give a worse if truth will beare it and it will be no wrong to such an Orator I beleeve we cannot expound the words to a higher sense or straine of wickednesse then Satan could speake But we need not make Satan himselfe the speaker and yet cleare the matter too though we neither say as the Jewish doctours that it was the devill personally taking the shape of Jobs wife or as those Christian Fathers that the devill did actually possesse her yet we may say and so salve the difficulty that she was mightily over-powred and acted by the temptation of Satan to be an instrument of temptation in this grosse manner against her husband Though she were not acted as the Serpent was in whom Satan spake to Eve yet we may well say she was acted as Eve by whom Satan spake to Adam Eve spake the devils minde being prevailed upon by his temptation to perswade her husband to eat against the command of God and Jobs wife overcome by a like temptation attempts the perswasion of her husband to curse God For as it is possible for one that is good to fall into the grossest and most blasphemous temptation himself so it is possible for one that is good to be made an instrument of such temptations unto others We may see an instance neere if not fully reaching this assertion in the Apostle Peter who hearing Christ fore-telling his sufferings takes him aside and began to rebuke him saying Be it farre from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee Mat. 16.22 23. Peter acted Satans part in this against his Master though unwittingly yet so wittily so to the life that he got his name by it Christ said to Peter get thee behind me Satan It was Peters tongue but Satan tun'd it Isaac said of his sonne Jacob in Esaus dresse The hands are the hands of Esau but the voice is the voice of Jacob Christ perceived here Satans counsell in Peters words he saw the wicked spirit through the cloathing of Peters flesh and therefore rebukes the Organ under the title of the chiefe agent Get thee behind me Satan Now as Peter though a holy man and full of good intentions to his Master yet spake the Devils mind and language so fully that the Devill himselfe as to that purpose could scarce have mended it So likewise Jobs wife might be a godly woman in the maine though abused and misled by Satan she thus excited her husband in the grossest construction those words can beare to curse God and die There is somewhat in the Text which may give us a hint of this that though she spake this yet Job esteemed her a good woman For observe Jobs answer to this advice What doth he say He doth not say Thou wicked woman thou abhominable wretch why doest thou give me such counsell All that he saith is this Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh Observe it he doth not call her foolish or wicked woman but thou speakest as one of the foolish women As if he should say How now wife what words are these that I heare from thee thou dost not speake now like thy selfe I use to heare other language from thee thou and I have had other kind of conference and I have received other kind of counsell from thee then this Whence is it that thou art so unlike thy selfe where are thy words season'd with salt which have so often ministred grace unto the hearers thou art degenerated in manners and corrupted in thy speech thou speakest now as one of the foolish women Intimating that she used to speake wisely and discreetely or as Solomon describes the vertuous woman Pro. 31·26 that heretofore she opened her mouth with wisedome and now she spake only as a foolish or wicked woman He doth not

a byas in all that he doth he is carryed by the gaine of godlinesse not by any delight in godlinesse thus to serve God Job is mercinary he serveth God for hire Job hath not any desire to please God but to benefit himselfe Job doth not seeke the glory of God but he seekes his owne advantage This is the sense which the words have in reference to the person of Job that as once Satan accus'd God unto man so now he accuseth this man unto God He accus'd God unto man Gen. 3. When God had forbidden him to eate of the Tree of knowledge of good and evill and told him that in the day he did eate thereof he should surely die You shall not surely die saith Satan for God knoweth that in the day you eate thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evill As if he should say God hath not forbidden this tree because it will doe you any hurt but because he would be God alone he would have all the knowledge to himselfe he hath an ill intent he knowes that if you eate of it you will be like him as gods knowing good and evill So heere hee accuseth man to God Job serveth you indeed and offereth you sacrifice and obeyeth you but it is that he may get by you that he may receive more and more from you he likes the pay the reward not the worke he cares not for God but for the good that commeth from him This is the accusation which here the slanderer casteth upon all the holy services and duties of Job Thus in briefe you see the sense I shall give you some observations from it The first is this It is an argument of a most malignant spirit when a mans actions are faire then to accuse his intentions The Devill hath nothing to say against the actions of Job but he goes downe into his heart and accuseth his intentions Malice mis-interprets the fairest actions but love puts the fairest interpretation it can upon foule actions Malice will say when a man doth well it is true he doth it but it is for vaine glory it is to be seene of men it is for his own ends it is for gaine But when a man doth ill love will say this he hath done through ignorance or inadvertency or violent temptations love covers a multitude of sinnes as fairely as possibly it may with wisedome and with justice How faire a cover did Christ himselfe put upon the foulest act that ever was in the world upon his own crucifying Father forgive them they know not what they doe they doe it indeed but they doe it ignorantly So Peter afterward I wot saith he that through ignorance you did it as did also your Rulers Love excuseth what is ill done in another and malice accuseth what others doe well Let such men learne from hence that in so do ●●●y are the mouth and tongue of Satan Secondly We may observe from hence That it is an argument of a base and an unworthy spirit to serve God for ends Had this been true of Job in Satans sense it had indeed spoyled and blemished all that he had done Those that come unto God upon such termes they are not holy but crafty they make a trade with God they doe not serve God it is not Obedientia but Mercatura as one expresseth it it is merchandizing with God not obeying him There is reward enough in God himselfe there is reward enough in the very duties themselvs work and wages go together Therfore for any to be carried out to the service of God upon outward things argues a base an eartthly spirit As sin is punishment enough unto it selfe though there were no other punishment though there were no hell to come after yet to do evill is or will be hell enough unto it selfe So to do good is reward enough unto it selfe A Heathen Poet observed it as a brand of Infamy upon the age wherein he lived that most did repent that they had done good or were good gratis or for nought that the price of all good actions fell in their esteeme unlesse they could raise themselves If a Heathen condemn'd this how damnable is it among Christians But here a Question will arise and I shall a little debate it because it doth further cleare the maine point May we not have respect to our owne good or unto the benefit we shall receive from God Is it unlawfull to have an eye to our owne advantage while we doe our duty Must we serve God for nought in that strict sense or els will ●od account nothing of all our services I shall cleare that in five briefe Conclusions and these will I suppose fully state the sense of this Text and of this speech The first is this There is no man doth or possibly can serve God for nought God hath by benefits already bestowed and by benefits promised out-vyed and out-bid all the endeavours and services of the creature If a man had a thousand paire of hands a thousand tongues and a thousand heads and should set them all on worke for God he were never able to answer the ingagements and obligations which God hath already put upon him Therfore this is a truth that no man can in a strict sense serve God for nought God is not beholden to any creature for any worke or service that is done unto him Againe secondly this is further to be considered The more outward blessings any one doth receive the more he ought to serve God and the more service God lookes for at his hands That is another Conclusion Therefore we find still that when God hath bestowed many outward blessings upon any either persons or Nations he chargeth an acknowledgement upon them Hos 2.8 She did not know that I gave her corne and wine and oyle and multiplyed her silver and gold which she bestowed upon Baal therefore I will come and recover it saith God You having received this you ought to have served me with it You see how God upbraideth David 2 Sam. 12.7 8. I annoynted thee King of Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul and I gave thee thy Masters house and thy Masters wives into thy bosome and if this had beene too little I would moreover have given thee such and such things How is it then that thou hast despised the Commandement of the Lord to doe evill in his sight As if he should say the more I bestowed upon thee the more obligations thou shouldest feele thy selfe under to obey me faithfully In the third place it is lawfull to have some respect to benefits both received and promised by way of Motive and incouragement to stir us up and quicken us either in doing or in suffering for God Moses Heb. 11.26 had respect to the recompence of reward therefore it is not unlawfull and Christ himselfe Heb. 12.2 looking at the joy that was set before him These