Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	true_a	worship_v	worshipper_n	5,566	5	12.1877	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A55226	A commentary on the prophecy of Malachi, by Edward Pocock D.D. Canon of Christ-Church, and Regius Professor of the Hebrew tongue, in the University of Oxford	Pococke, Edward, 1604-1691.	1677 (1677)	Wing P2661A; ESTC R216989	236,012	119

other or would choose any other place for his worship then Jerusalem he will certainly effect and therefore for the better assurance thereof repeats it for my Name shall be great that which by you a handfull of men is now despised shall be great among the Heathen by all acknowledged as such These words were when spoken spoken of what should after be but by Christs coming into the World were made good so appears it by what he saith in his discourse with the Samaritan Woman who thought of no other p●a●e where men ought ●o worship God but either the Mountain of the Samaritans mount Garizim or Jerusalem Joh. IV. 21 c. Woman beleive me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father And the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth The consideration of which words will give us the true import of these and compared together they illustrate one the other for his saying that God did no longer confine his worship i. e. the outward performance thereof by such rites and ceremonies as were ordained to Jerusalem or any other single place what is that but the verifying of what is here said that his Name should be great among the Nations from the rising of the Sun even to the going down of the same and what he ●a●th that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth not only there but every where sheweth that as his Name should be great and magnified among them by their acknowledging him as Father so what is to be meant by that incense and pure offering which they should offer unto his Name viz. not such as are literally signified by those words and were then to be ordered according to the prescription of the Law but such worship as though expressed by the names of those carnal things under the Law then in continual use and known to all yet is indeed spiritual joining the Soul with the external performances agreeable to the nature of God who is a spirit of which those ordinances of worship under the Law were types and shadows And indeed the change of the place necessarily imports a change of the worship or things offered for expression of it for the incense and other offerings by the Law prescribed were not to be offered any where else but in the Temple at Jerusalem after that was there settled for the place of his worship Deut. XII 13 14 26. Those therefore that he will have in every place to be offered to him are manifestly of another nature though called by those names which then included generally all the external worship of God under the Old Testament while the Jews were Gods peculiar People they now figuratively understood denote the whole spiritual worship of God under the New Testament since the calling of the Gentiles and People of all Nations unto Gods Church the Kingdom of Christ. The incense therefore of the Gentiles converted to Christ and by the Gospell instructed in the true knowledge of God and taught to celebrate his great name and their pure offering are devout prayers Rev. V. 8 holy praises thanksgivings and alms-deeds and works of charity Heb. XIII 15 16. their whole selves Rom. XII 1 Divers of the ancient Christian Fathers look on the words as an express and undoubted Prophecy of the Christians solemn worship of God in the Eucharist or Sacrament of the Lords Supper called the Christian Sacrifice to which how they are appliable is shewed at large by the learned M r Mede in his discourse on these words where he gives to note that under the name of the Christian Sacrifice by the ancient Church was understood not the mere Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ but the whole sacred action or solemn Service of the Church assembled whereof this sacred mystery was a prime and principal part and therefore defines it to be An oblation of thanksgiving and praier to God the Father through Jesus Christ and his Sacrifice commemorated in the creatures of bread and wine wherewith God had been first agnized viz. by them sanctified by being offered and set before him as a present to acknowledge him the Lord and giver of all This whole Service duly performed is as at large he there shews deservedly stiled incense and a pure offering both in respect that it is purely or spiritually offered and in respect of the purity of the conscience and affection of the offerers throughly perswaded of the greatness of God and in respect of Christ whom it signifies and represents who is a Sacrifice without all spot and blemish and by this being offered to his Name in every place he saith the time should come when it should be great magnified and acknowledged as great among and by all Nations though the Jews did now profane it as he makes the connexion by rendring that though which our Translation renders but. But the sense will be much alike in reading but viz. to this purpose the time shall come when from the rising of the Sun c. my Name shall be great among the Gentiles who yet have not true knowledge of me but will when I shall see due time to reveal it to them readily embrace it Mean while it ought to have been so among you and duly magnified by you to whom I have from of old revealed it and given you ordinances and waies of worship by observing of which you should have magnified it but you on the contrary have by despising those ordinances and perverting those waies of worship profaned it When these words were spoken and thence forward as all along before since the giving of the Law till the time of this diffusing the knowledge of God and his Name and this alteration and reformation of his worship here spoken of the Jews had for their direction the Law of Moses and ought duly to have attended to it as they are warned Chap. IV. 4 but they did in all things go so contrary to it as that neither they nor any service they did were acceptable to God So notoriously so obstinately peccant were they both Priest and People that he sees it not sufficient to have once reproved them by reckoning up to them their faults but again repeats them that so they may be sensible how greatly they have offended him how displeasing it is to him that they should continue to do such things having been warned of them and that it is worse then what the Gentiles when he shall call them will do 12 ¶ But ye have profaned it in that ye say The table of the Lord is polluted and the fruit thereof even his meat is contemptible But ye have profaned it viz. my Name so verse 6. they are said to despise

his Temple there shall his glory and majestatick presence dwell even that Lord which they now sought in their murmurings And for a proof of this and that this promise should certainly be performed he instanceth in what they had already seen in what concerned the King of Persia who was the Lords Angell or Messenger and Messiah or Anointed for destroying of Babylon and bringing back the dispersed of the Jews to Jerusalem according to what Esay prophecied of him and made with them a Covenant of peace of whom therefore he saith And the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in i. e. to honor and love him do you not see that he came according as was promised to you so shall the Lord whom ye seek come suddenly and unawares in the time of redemtion and gathering of the captivity c. This is his meaning as far as I can make it out in his Commentary on this place and I suppose I have faithfully given it and the giving of it is a sufficient confutation of it so doth he distract the construction of the words so blend and intermingle them with strange notions that as he rejects the opinions of others of his own profession so I suppose none of them will embrace this of his All that we can gather from this or any yet named is that they not willing to see or acknowledg the truth which the Christians instructed by the Gospell embrace do strive to go as far from it as they can mean while taking such different waies and disagreeing among themselves as that it is manifest they had no one probable thing to insist on There is yet another opinion among them which Abarbinel glanceth on for a reserve as a possible one if the other of his own be not thought sufficient although he doth not so apply it as others do and that perhaps much ancienter then any of these we have yet seen and such as by a right interpretation of the words though not according to their meaning might be reconciled to the truth And that is That by this Messenger is meant he who Chap. IV. 5 is called Eliah whom some of them would have to be Eliah the Tishbite in person others not necessarily so but some great Prophet like him in degree and therefore called by his name So the often cited R. Tanchum reports their opinion on that place Chap. IV. where will be occasion to speak again of it That this opinion among them was ancient we learn not only out of their own records but out of the Gospell also Mat. XVII 10 where we hear the Disciples asking Christ Why then say the Scribes that Eliah must first come their opinion then was that before Christ Elias ought to come as a Messenger and Forerunner and Christ doth not say they were out in expecting such a one as was to be looked on as Elias but in this that they did not acknowledge him that was under that name expected to be already come saying Elias was truly first to come but that indeed he was already come and they knew him not c. By which answer his Disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist of whom also he had before told them and the whole People that he was he of whom it is written Behold I send my Messenger before thy face c. Mat. II. 10 and the Elias which was for to come To those Jews therefore who are of the last opinion mentioned we have from those words of our Saviour a ready answer and to any objection that they shall raise from it against their believing this Prophecy to be fulfilled and the Messiah to be come Whereas some of them making it an argument in that kind say that this Prophecy is not fulfilled because Elias is not in person come and therefore neither the Messias we refer them for answer to those of their own Sect who confess that neither these nor those other words of Malachi nor any other Prophecy require that Elias should come in person but only some great Prophet or prophetical man in degree like to Elias And then to these if they say that not any such hath yet appeared we say Yes there hath and that John the Baptist was he for he came before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias to make ready a People prepared for the Lord Luc. I. 17 He was by all that then lived and beheld his works counted and holden for a Prophet Mat. XIV 5 and XXI 26 yea he was more then a Prophet then whom there was not a greater risen among them that were born of women Mat. XI 9 11. so great that they doubted whether he were not the Messiah himself What was required from this Messenger and from him that was promised under the name of Elias viz. that he should prepare the way for the Lord he did fully make good by preaching repentance Mat. III. 2 by baptizing unto repentance vers 11. by bearing witness to Christ and pointing him out to the People that they might beleive on him Joh. I. 29 c. if there be any thing in that ancient Tradition of theirs that Eliah was to prepare the Messiah to his office that may be said to have been fulfilled by John's baptizing Christ before he began to preach at which baptizing the Holy Ghost descended on him visibly from Heaven But this is besides the expression of the Scripture and so not to the present words John then being such as to his person and so having performed that office for which it is said here that he should be sent what can it be but mere obstinacy to deny him to be the Lords Messenger here prophesied of and what can they expect in any which was not in him found From the time of this Prophecy till the time of its completion by the Lords sending him was their opinion true that such a one who for his excellency and the spirit with which he was to be endowed might be called Eliah was to come as a Messenger and a forerunner of the Messiah to prepare his way before him but since these things have been all fulfilled still by virtue of the same Prophecy to expect another denying him is great perversness According to their own rule that Prophecies and promises of God are at their manifestation to be discerned and acknowledged as fulfilled they ought so to discern and acknowledge this and could not but so do did they not willingly shut their eies because they will not accept of Christ. God be thanked who hath opened our eies by the Gospell so as to acknowledge this Messenger who by what is therein declared is evidently approved to be John Baptist. He it is without doubt of whom he here saith my Messenger So our Translation renders it others rendring my Angell The word is indeed that which is used to signify an Angell but as well likewise any other Messenger or Ambassador from a

Jews have a proverbial speech which may serve something to illustrate this expression The Sun ariseth the infirmity decreaseth that is As the Sun riseth so infirmities decrease Much more of this Sun might it be said that he did at his arising to those that feared the Lord bring healing with him in his wings to them in that day of distress worse then the darkest night the shadow of death it self which without his arising to them would necessarily have swallowed up them too in destruction and could not but by the apprehension of it make them as even sick at heart according to what he said c. III. 2 who may abide the day of his coming So terrible should it be that all mens hearts should fail for fear in contemplation of those things that should come on them yet even then in regard of his solitary effects that his coming should have toward them that feared his Name he bid them when these things these terrible things should begin to come to pass to look up and lift up their heads for that their redemption then drew nigh their deliverance from the persecutions by the unbeleiving Jews which they had endured and from the dangers which threatned them as except by his extraordinary Providence inevitable and his making that which was for the destruction of his enemies occasion of comfort and prosperity to them may well be termed healing But we may not confine it only to the rescue of their persons and preservation of their bodies nor the outward joy that they should find from that but look on the inward spiritual comfort and the healing of their broken hearts and fainting spirits in preserving them from failing by fear and despair as a greater part of it and therefore not unfitly doth Grotius interpret this arising of the Sun of righteousness with healing in his wings of the Collation of the holy Spirit which Christ should send to his to shine in their hearts and bring perfect health to their minds that spirit of comfort the only true comforter In regard of both these viz. both his rescuing and delivering those that feared his Name and protecting and delivering them from their outward fears and dangers and persecutions and his inward illumination and comforting of them by his good Spirit shewing himself in all waies a Sun and shield to them was this Prophecy that he should arise to them with healing in his wings evidently and abundantly made good to them in that day And certainly in all respects doth that title of the Sun of righteousness agree to Christ the fountain of true heavenly light who enlightneth every man coming into the World Joh. I. 9 and whom God hath set forth to declare his righteousness Rom. III. 25 26. and the Author of all true comfort who giveth to his such joy as shall swallow up all worldly sorrow Joh. XVI 20 such joy as no man can take from them v. 22. and never leaveth his comfortless Joh. XIV 18 but sendeth to them from the Father the comforter the Spirit of truth Joh. XV. 26 to abide with them for ever and to dwell in them and to be in them Joh. XIV 16 17. and in the same regard likewise may he be said to arise or come with healing in his wings to them as in all other waies also diffusing health in all kinds When he was here on Earth great multitudes from all parts flocked to him to be healed of their diseases and they that were vexed with unclean spirits and they were healed And the whole multitude sought to touch him for ●here went vertue out of him and healed them all Luke VI. 17 18 19. And the woman w ch had been twelve years diseased with an issue of blood did not doubt but to find the effects of that vertue who therefore coming behind him touched the hemme of his garment for she said within her self If I may but touch his garment I shall be whole Mat. IX 20 21. and she did accordingly find it for straight-way she was healed of that plague And Jesus perceived though he saw not the woman that vertue had gone out of him and she before all acknowledged it Mar. V. 28 29 30. c. and Luk. VIII 44 c. on which passage in Mat. IX Grotius notes that it may well be looked on as having reference to at least good correspondence with this place The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bicnapheiha rendred in his wings being capable of being rendred in fimbriis in the hemmes or borders of his garment as he observes it to be elsewhere rendred and it may be not unworthy of consideration But withall that healing vertue in him shewed it self not more in the healing bodily distempers then the worse maladies of the Soul as appears in his words when he cured some bodily diseases in saying not Be well or healed arise and walk but thy sins be forgiven thee Mat. IX 2 5. that they might know that he had power to forgive sins v. 6. and was no less a Physitian of sick distressed souls then of diseased bodies In all regards then as we said doth the title of the Sun of righteousness arising with healing in his wings well agree to Christ our Saviour and all things that those words can give us to expect from him that is so described have been and are by him abundantly made good ●o have those that faithfully believe in him and rely on him alwaies found and shall find But as to this present place the words seem limited to those benefits of outward preservation and inward comfort which those that feared the Lord were in that day of discrimination which the Lord saith he would make to expect according to his promise here made and did accordingly find with what more he adds in the following words for expressing his goodness to them But before we proceed to them we may here take notice of a strange conceit of the Jews which they here bring for explication of what is here said concerning that day that shall burn as an oven and devour the wicked and that Sun of righteousness which shall arise to them that fear the Name of the Lord and how the discrimination shall be made between them The Sun they tell us is now inclosed in a case or sheath besides that God out of a Pool before him deads his force with water that so he may not burn up the World but at the day of Judgement he shall be unsheathed and so coming forth in his full strength shall as he now doth in melting some things and hardning others shew contrary effects according to the difference of the subjects that he hath to work on and so burn up the wicked as stubble but heal the godly of all those bodily defects and imperfections with which they shall then arise This is the 〈◊〉 of what they say as improved to its best meaning by Abarbinel But what tolerable meaning it may have