Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	right_a	zeal_n	zealous_a	37	3	9.1000	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77155	Zeale for Gods house quickned: or, A sermon preached before the assembly of Lords, Commons, and Divines, at their solemn fast Iuly 7. 1643. In the Abbey Church at Westminster. Expressing the eminencie of zeale requisite in church reformers: / by Oliver Bowles, Pator of Sutton in Bedfordshire. Published by order of both Houses of Parliament.	Bowles, Oliver, ca. 1577-1646?	1643 (1643)	Wing B3884; Thomason E63_6; ESTC R9592	34,766	57

any comfort of love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfill my joy that ye be of one accord and one mind Doe not our Adversaries studdy to make rents among us shall we gratifie them weaken our selves Doe not they cry out that if they can but devide us they shall conquer us It is memorable what is reported of Iulian Amian Marcell de Julian lib. 22. that hee did nourish dissentions among Christians ut non timeret postea unanimem plebem Vse 1 If zeale bee so requisite a grace in him that God calls to bee a Reformer then we must give diligence that our zeale may be of the right stamp As every grace so zeale may and often hath its counterfeit as First If it want a true light There be false lights that mislead men over bogges and dangerous places we are exceeding apt to be misled when prejudiced by mens persons their learning or holinesse antiquity or novelty as if we were necessarily to receive a thing because ancient or to reject it because new a Inter iuvenile Iudicium s●nile praejudicium perit veritas by a hasty engaging of our judgments before we be able to judge and an unwillingnesse to retract when we have judged by an b Non tam an licet quam ut liceat undue enquiry when we rather seek that things may be lawfull then whether they bee lawfull or not when transported by selfe conceitednesse of our owne opinion it is onely the eye-salve of the spirit by the Word must guide us To the Law and to the Testimony Esay 8.20 Secondly If it suffer not it selfe to be ordered by wisedom This takes in right meanes as conducing to a right end there is a precipitaney in zeale whereby hee that hasteth in his matters sinneth There is a spirit of deliberation and counsell consider consult then give sentence Eccl. 10.25 then practise A good cause often miscarries by indiscreet bandling The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them because he knoweth not how to goe to the City Ignorance of the right meanes tires out men in their endeavours to no purpose Thirdly If it easily fall into wrangling and quarrels Love that is and ought to bee the orderer of zeale suffereth long 2 Cor. 13. beareth all things endureth all things love knowes that a little breach will quickly bee a great one It prevents them or speedily makes them up It gives the water no passage no not a little zeale for God is tenderly respectfull of mens persons It is wild-fire and not zeale Dan 5.15 Acts 26.24 that casts fire-brands and arrowes and deadly words and sayes I meane no harme Prov. 26.18 19. Fourthly If zeale bee right she will not bate ought of what lies under the command of God no not a hoofe its false zeale that cryes neither mine nor thine but let it hee devided that makes nothing of small matters True zeale drives on the work of Reformation so as it leaves not the least remnants of Baal removes all high places as considering that great persecutions have been raised upon small matters and that conscience is a tender thing as the eye the least moat troubles it Fifthly If our zeale bee only flashy like those unnaturall heats that come and goe by flushings it is not right wee have many that begin well are hot and eager while in such a company while they have such props while carried on by such hopes while not assaulted with such-tentations while they thought the cause would goe thus they were hot and eager in the work of Reformation but as things alter from without they alter from within even to the totall remitting of their zeale Sixthly If true zeale as that which hath the cause of God in the eye then tract of time multitude of discouragements falsenesse of men deserting the cause strength of oppositions will not tire out a mans spirit zeale makes men resolute difficulties are but whetstones to their fortitude it steeles mens spirits with an undaunted magnanimity Vse 2 If zeale be so necessary in a Reformer then wee are all first to blesse God for that fire of zeale the Lord hath kindled in many of your hearts right Honourable and beloved whereby you have been willing to spend and to be spent for the common cause We may read your zeale in your unwearied paines in your deniall of your selves in matter of profit and pleasure in the many hazards you have runne even of all you are have or may expect in the railings and speakings against of men Have not we cause to be thankfull for that zeale of yours whereby you have taken off unsufferable burthens from our backs for the many snares from which you have for the discovery of and delivery of us from most dangerous ruining plots for the many precious Ordinances of Parliament that have issued out for the common good Have not many unworthy scandalous and soule-starving Ministers been displaced and good ones placed in their roome Hath not the Lords day been restored to its pristine sanctification and by burning the book of Sports with other Commands for the better sanctifying of the day been vindicated from all those former unsufferable profanations How have superstitious monuments been defaced secret Idolatries suppressed Seducers of the people been banished the Land For all these and many more everlasting honour shall be upon the head of you our Reformers Goe on and prosper You Noble Parliament Worthies doe worthily in our Ephrata and be famous in our Bethlehem so shall the Lord make your names as a savotry ointment crowne you with his best blessings make your Families flourish when you are dead and gone remember you according to all the good you have done for Gods cause But above all that you have found out a way in these distracted times wherein Religion it selfe groanes under the wantonnesse of our people loathing the Manna and hunting after Novelties under the uncouth and irreligious opinions crept in among us under the bitter divisions that overspread City and Countrey to call an Assembly of able and Worthy Divines with whom you might advise for the settling of Doctrine Worship and Discipline Oh that this work had been sooner in hand Not only have you found such a way but you have embodied many worthies from among your selves with us Have not we a double benefit hereby first you by this your association put honour upon us who should without you in the eyes of many carnall men have been very despicable secondly by this happy conjunction you both help to order us who are ignorant of the nature of such meetings and withall by a seasonable interposall may stay divisions among us Only wee have a double suit to you 1 That you would not suffer the work to be either spun out beyond what is meet or yet hastily slubber'd over Not the first for that the enemy is sowing tares and much harme may be done

have made bold to make a supply of that which at the time of the delivery I could not inlarge Further this being a fixed rule to me Inter concionandam emineat ver●un Dei. That Gods Word should in preaching have the preeminence wonder not that I alledge Authors in such cases wherein the al●egation of them does not prejudice Scripture As first when an Historicall truth is to be made good for though the Scriptures do only determine Quid verum quid falsum What is true and what false yet for the information of our selves Quid novum quid antiquum we must have recourse to the writings of men Secondly if God himselfe when hee would shame men for their evils sends them to learne from the creatures 2 Ierem. 10.6 Prov. 6. 1 Cor. 1● 14 why may not wee send men living in the dayes of light to learn of darker times Thirdly when being to reprove the evils of the time for removing of prejudice wee deliver our reproofes rather in the words of Antiquity than in our own Facilè patimur reprehensores qui remotiori feculo vixêre So the Papists did embrace many things in the writings of the fathers as Catholike which they condemned in Luther as Hereticall And now what remaines but that wee all humbly pray the God of all truth and peace who alone is able to facilitate all difficulties to direct and guide you Honourable Senatours to poure upon you that spirit of wisedome and courage that you may goe with a settled resolution never to give over till you have established truth and peace in our borders and the same God magnifie his power in our weaknesse and multiply the gifts of his Spirit upon us whom you have been pleased to call together to advise with in the great affaires of the Church that we may so discharge our duties that God may have glory and his people the good that they expect and pray for and your and all our enemies may have their faces covered with shame So prayes Your servant in the Lord Oliver Bowles A SERMON Preached before The Assembly of LORDS COMMONS AND DIVINES Vpon their Fast Iuly 7. 1643. JOHN 2.17 And his Disciples remembred that it was written The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up THe Prophet Malachi prophecying concerning the Lord Christ that he should in due time come to visit his Church sets him out as a Refiner as a Purifier of silver tells us that he should purifie in speciall the Sonnes of Levi purge them as gold and silver Malach. 3.3 that they might offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousnesse And as an accomplishment of this prophecy the same Lord Christ gives a Specimen in the story immediately preceding my Text by that heroicall fact of his in whipping the buyers and sellers out of the Temple an evill which the Priests for their gaine had somented I call it an heroicall fact for that it was done by a speciall spirit in its kinde not imitable by us The which act of the Lord Jesus being carried on with an eminent and remarkable zeale and magnanimity gave the Disciples an occasion of calling this to minde The zeale of thy house hath eaten me up Of which his zeale we have a remarkable discovery in these particulars 1. In the weaknesse of the meanes whereby he did both attempt and effect the work in that the persons but few in comparison and those despicable in the eyes of the world Christ and his Disciples not armed with any weapons that might carry dread and terrour with them at most but with a whip made of a few small cords which probably were scattered by the Drovers which came thither to sell their cattell and to some of them with his voice only Verse 16. he said to the money changers Take these things hence and it was done 2. In the strength that the opposite power did hold out which makes the encounter so much the more dangerous 〈◊〉 in ●oc●m As first a garrison of Souldiers in Arce Antonia ready at hand to appease as it is probable occasionall Tumults Secondly the temper of the mens spirits with whom the businesse was they were men set upon gaine the worlds god Thirdly the great confluence of the people it being the most solemne Mart of the Passeover Behold then the greatnesse of Christs zeale when neither the weaknesse of the meanes on the one side to effect it nor the greatnesse of the power on the other side to hinder it did at all dismay him or cause him to desist from this attempt of reforming that so apparent an abuse of the Temple the house of God Learne we hence that Observ It matters not how weak the meanes of Church-reformation is not how strong the opposite power is if we can but draw Christ into the businesse Heb. 5.2 Esay 30.21 Iohn 16.13 Ier. 15.20 Esa 26.12 if we can procure him to fit as President in the Assembly If he be there he will heale our ignorances hee will cleare up all our doubts he will guide us by the spirit of truth he will be as a wall of Brasse against all our adversaries he will work all our works for us I do ingenuously confesse that when we do consider and view the difficulty of the work of Church reformation and our weaknesse who are summoned to be advisers in the work it may amaze us but when we look upon the Lord Almighty the great Jehovah the Lion of the Tribe of Judah to whom nothing is too hard who hath broken through gates of Iron and Barres of Brasse which we could never have dreamed that they had been perviable this againe may raise up our spirits and give us hope that if we seek the Lord in his way he will certainly be found of us Zach. 4.6 It is all one to him whether by an Army and by power or by quickening the spirits of his raising them above themselves Verse 10. whether by a day of small things or by doing terrible things that wee looked not for Isai 64.3 hee bring about his Churches cause Zach. 4.7 It is nothing to him to make Mountaines plaine Who art thou O great Mountaine The Lord by the Prophet speaks in a holy scorne of all the enemies the Jewes had in rebuilding the Temple and City Wee accordingly by a grant from the Right Honourable the two Houses of Parliament with so many of them as have beene pleased to embody themselves with us are assembled this day to afflict our soules in Fasting and Prayer before the Lord that we may seek of him a right way in these great and important affaires to be treated on that he would give us such a frame of spirit such an assistance from on high such a cleare light as may raise us above our selves fit us for that work whereunto we have no sufficiency as from our selves ●●ya 8.21 Thus did Ezra and the Jewes out of a conscience of their owne

while we are consulting Errors may enter so deeply that they may prove incurable Nor yet let it be done negligently first for that it is the Lords work to the negligent doing whereof belongs a curse secondly Ier. 48.10 in that it is to us of neare concernment all our wealth goes in this bottom thirdly for that many eyes are upon us from abroad both of friends who will praise God for what we doe well and of foes who watch for our balting 2 Our second suit to you is that when the Lawes of Christ for the due administration of his ordinances shall be discovered you would be pleased to account it your greatest honour to submit to them Christs government is the only liberty thraldome to your lusts is the only true bondage If you honour God he will honour you It is his Gospel that hath clothed you with scarlet put ornaments of gold upon you put every pretious stone in your garments Be not jealous as if Christs Government would eclypse your greatnesse Christs rule and your honours are not incompatible the Lord Jesus tells us his Kingdom is not of this world he commands that Caesar have his right It is the style of the spirit of God that calls you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dignities with respect to which the Schoole allowes that outward Pomp which Magistracy is honoured with Reges Principes quos in reverentia à subditis haberi oportet pretiosioribus vestibus ornentur ampliores habitationes possidear●t Aqu. 1. 2● qu. 102. and the same spirit mentions the pomp of Agrippa when hee came to sit in Judgement without dislike Acts 25.23 Secondly as it sets out the unspeakable good of a zealous Reformer and what a blessing such a one is so it points out to us what that is which of all other doth most unbeseeme a Reformer viz. the want of Zeale which will render such whom God hath called to this office most odious to him most abominable to men ages present will count themselves unfortunate in such ages to come will curse such the opportunities which God afforded them and which they for want of zeale have squandered away will rise up in judgement against them What might such have done if a spirit of zeal had eaten up their spirits they might have saved the Churches at home and abroad given Antichrist that blow that should have thrown him as a mill-stone into the middle of the sea delivered liberties lawes and inheritances to posterity saved City Countrey the lives of millions of men they might have finished the work they began all succeeding ages might have blessed God for them their owne works have praised them in the gate Now if zeale be wanting they will undoe all the Churches of Christ as much as in them lies they will uphold tottering Babylon destroy flourishing England deliver up their posterity to absolute slavery make themselves the monuments of shame and ignominy to all that know or shall heare of them Oh tell it not in Gath publish it not in the streets of Askelon c. Must it not needs be so when so necessary a correquisite as zeale is wanting for what is a Reformer without zeale but as a body without a soule a Bee without a sting a souldier without his weapon a Bird without wings salt without savour Oh then you Noble Senators who are under God the Chariots and Horse-men of our Israel what ever you part withall part not with your zeale let this be your honour and crown and as a diadem upon your head that yet you be zealous for your Religion your Countrey your Lawes and Liberties shall you but remit your former zeale a spirit of lukewarmnesse which God forbid seize upon you sell truth for peace you will live and die without honour and render your selves and us the most miserable Nation under heaven Vse 3 Let me addresse my selfe to you Right Reverend and beloved in the Lord. Behold the Lord hath by a providence of his singled us out among our Brethren for this great worke in hand Both you and we all are desirous this day to lay our selves low before the Lord importunately to intreat his assistance that he would be pleased to magnifie his power in our weakenesse Hee might have made choyce of many of our Brethren every way as able if not more able then our selves but so is his pleasure and we dare not but be at his dispose The Lord can worke as well by the Oaten Pipe as by the Silver Trumpet Be then exhorted by him who reckons himselfe the meanest of you all and who in respect of his many infirmities might well have been dispensed withall be I say exhorted to cloath your selves out of respect to the worke in hand with zeale as with a cloak to fall upon the businesse you are designed to toto animi impetu you are called out to contend for the truth that was once given to the Saints which hath beene sealed with the bloud of Martyrs hath beene justified by the learned pennes and disputes of all the Worthies of this Kingdome without interruption for above this 80. yeeres but of late by a cunning ambitious and corrupt party we had almost beene cheated of it even of that truth which ought to be dearer then our lives Blessed be our God who hath given a turne and made a stop of their proceedings whose worke was as to put out the eyes of the people of the land by Ignorance so to have leavened them with Heterodox Opinions and were we not indeed gone almost as farre as Rome gates in a declining way Our worke is a noble work it is servare depositum to be Feoffees in trust for that saving truth that patterne of wholsome words which hath been derived to us as from the pure sountaine of Scripture so also by the Channell of purer Antiqui●y comes with Letters of commendation from the sufferings of Gods choysest servants such they were whom the world was not worthy of I beseech you in the bowels of Jesus Christ we may quit our selves like men doe our utmost that we may vindicate the truth of God from all the aspersions of evill-minded men cleere it from those ambiguities wherewith ungodly men have perplexed it and doe such further worke in worship and discipline as shall by God and Man be required of us What would our Ancestours those glorious lights of former times have given to have had such a price put into their hands as we unworthy ones at this time have May we not justly think that what opportunity we have is but the effect of the fervent prayers the many teares and sad sufferings of our sage and Reverend Predecessors that are now with the Lord Are there not already upon us in this worke for which we are assembled the eyes of our Brethren of the Reformed Churches as expecting the issue of this businesse Nay is not the whole Nation in expectancy of what this meeting will produce