Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	word_n	worship_n	wrath_n	29	3	6.6201	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35043	Fraterna correptio, or, The saints zeale against sinful altars delivered in a sermon preached on a day of humiliation for the error, heresies, & schisms of our times and nations / by Z.C., minister of the word.	Crofton, Zachary, 1625 or 6-1672.	1655 (1655)	Wing C6994; ESTC R23793	70,876	177

p. 297. which they have without cause violated now if thou be a God as they say thou art and as we dreame revenge the wrong now done unto thy Name and me and shew thy power on thy perjurious people who in their deeds deny thee their God And shall I not arise to chastise them will not the honour of my holy Name and nature by severe judgements for their unholinesse on those my people who will not shew it by their conformity obeying my Lawes and fearing to offend my pleasure be vindicated from the blasphemous thoughts of mine enemies Unto which Gods power glory and faithfulnesse standing up do as it were answer and plead True O Lord most holy thy pure nature stands justly offended thy people are by their Altar-building made naked in thy sight they have moved thee to jealousie with that which is not God Deu. 32.21 22. or of God it may be just that the fire kindled against them in thy wrath should burne unto Hell and that therein for their sin thou mayest scatter them into corners and make their rememberance for to cease and thereby vindicate the glory of thy purity and shew thy selfe a sin-hating Exod. 32.22 23. by being a sin-revenging God but what shall become of thy faithfulnesse the glory thereof will be lost in the midst of the Heathen O remember thy promise Lord thy promise made to Abraham to Isaac and Jacob and let not the Heathen say thou hast spoken what thou wilt not performe thou art not as man that thou shouldst lie nor the sonne of man that thou shouldest repent O let the mouth of Balaam witnesse to a cursing Balak that thou hast said it and thou wilt do it thou hast spoken it and thou wilt make it good Numb 23.19 How shall the Heathen also blaspheme thy power and say because thou wast not able to bring to passe thy begun mercy and give them the promised land thou hast slaine them in the wildernesse Numb 14.16 For Lord the Nations consider not the cause nor accknowledge thy justice but reproach thy power and promise and say For mischief thou hast begun to shew them mercy Nay they will not only reproach thy power and promise but rob thee of thine honour and the glory of thy justly inflicted fury the rod will rebel against the hand that useth it if now and so severely thou strike with it consider Lord make not a full end of this rebellious Altar-building generation for the enemies will behave himselfe proudly and say My hand and not the Lord Deu. 32.27 hath done all this so that sinne doth not onely make Gods Word to fight against it self in promises and threats but also the very properties of the Lord how sad must it be unto an ingenuous child to see fury and mercy power and pitie justice and compassion at the same time to shine in the bosome of a tender father how vile then must this sinne be which runs God on such straits when as much as in us lies we labour to confound the very God of Wisdome and set unity at enmity making the Divine nature as it were to warre against it self And hence it is that the properties of God are many times pleading expostulations with God modo admonentis de benignitate by way of humble minding God of his owne nature in the prayers of his owne people fearing or feeling the fiercenesse of his fury The third effect is a rendering the worship of God vile in the eyes of the heathen which know him not by this sinne the enemies of the Lord have occasion to blaspheme the Name and ways of God to reproach the Gospel and Doctrine of Jesus Christ for in Altar-building men run from God and actually speak the language of the Apostate covenant-corrupting Jewes It is in vaine to serve God and what profit have we that we have kept all his Ordinances Mal. 3.14 and attribute the peace and plenty Gods patience indulgeth unto the Queene of Heaven and their shameful impieties Jer. 44.17 18. and therefore God complains that when his people built Altars unto Baal they did not know that God gave her corne and wine and oyle and multiplied their silver and gold Hosea 2.8 And God aggravates this sinne ever with the mention of his mercies whereby he declares how little cause they had so really to vilifie his wayes and worship by departing from them their rebellion against his will and words must needs bespeak his yoake to be heavie and servile bondage which is indeed perfect freedome and his tender reigne over his people to be fierce and cruel The Schismes and sad Divisions produced by this sinne give occasion to such as know not the doctrine of unity to charge the wayes and worship of God with the natural production thereof never considering how they are the fruits of sinne not of Gods sacred Altar How hath Satan and his wicked instruments taken occasion to reproach vilifie and blaspheme the wayes and worship of God from the lewdnesse of some that professe it in all ages do not the Papists generally calumniate the Reformation of the Church with the charge of division and novelty and the like because some professing to it have divided from the Church and propagated their Altar-building-principles so that every observant eye cannot but see that Altar-building besides the Altar of God makes Gods Altar Word and Worship as Simeon and Levi their cursed act on the circumcised Schechemites made good Jacobs savour to stink among the Canaanites and Perizzites in which regard it lies on the sincere worshippers of God with constancie to adhere to Gods Altar and with courage to suppresse others in their places as becomes the Gospel of Jesus Christ The fourth and last effect of this sinne of Altar-building which may render it exceeding vile is a reviving of the Lords fury for these are the Altars of Bethel which God will visit Amos 3.14 This is the sinne that is written before the Lord as with a pen of iron and point of a diamond Jer. 17.1 2. This is the setting of post by his post and threshold by the Lords threshold to the defiling of Gods holy Name till the subjects be consumed in his anger Ezek. 43.8 This is the setting up the Altar of jealousie to the provoking of God to depart from his Sanctuarie Ezek. 8.6 This is the following new gods to the kindling of a fire in his wrath which shall burne to hell Deut. 32.21 22. In a word this is the golden Calfe which turnes patience to speak with reverence into such rage that a Moses prayer can hardly binde from destroying Exod. 32.8 9 10. and the rebellion so highly provoking that a God most gracious in all affliction afflicted in pitie and love saving and redeeming being by it vexed in spirit becomes an enemie Isa 63.9 How did Corah and his company by their but formal Altar-building schismatical withdrawing from the administrations of divine worship provoke the Lords

sufficient to evidence its concommitancie with this sin of Altar-building both before and since Christ came in the flesh and to give us cause if we finde the same to shew it selfe in the midest of us as it usually puts up in troublesome times and places as most suitable to their doubtful destinies to suspect Altar-building to attend it but upon serious search and diligent observation we shall easily see to the sadning of pious spirits not only hath Astrology appeared under our confusions and commotions but also not been rebuked but rather indulged and countenanced I and by too many received to the emboldening of its professors with wonted impudency to enter the lists and engage the contests for divining predicting Astrology so often foyled by Civil and Ecclesiastical censures in the Church nay and by Heathens themselves strangers to the Church their raging arguments produced against arguments of reason and Scripture the reviling tearmes against Divines and Ministers of the Gospel not only now living to defend divine providence from their starrie encroachments but even such as are long since rotted in the grave doing what in them is to the killing of their labours which do live and will live to their conviction and confusion their declared enmity to Religion publishing and predicting as the pretended influence of the Starres the variety of confusions and sad divisions concerning it evermore prophesying evil to the Truth according to the wonted practice of its professors and their blazing forth the least of failings nay sometimes imagined in Divines to the rendring of their persons and function vile whilest they sound the trumpet of their owne praise often recollecting those things they have seemingly foretold and have accidentally come to passe but burying in oblivion their never accomplished predictions which may set Mercury on work as Seneca once wittily fancied to intreat the gods to abridge the life of Claudius if for no other cause yet of very pitie and compassion to the poore Astrologers as the great Plague threatened to be in London 1652. who had already beene taken with so many lies from year to year that if the destinies were not more favourable then their ground was sure the credit of Astrology would decay for ever of which if a man should as it is reported of the Lord of Arundel note but their yearly Almanacks with repugnant notes at the beginning they would oftentimes prove more true then such predictions These things I say are not to be past without observation as the evidence of that height of their existence and countenance in the midest of us which may create our jealousie if I may not say conclude the sin of Altar-building to be on foot among us Astrological impositions upon the peoples faith lately started up with peremptorinesse and impudence with the peoples apt reception thereof as more infallible Prognostications of the government of the world and Church then either Scripture-prophecie or promise provoked a reverend Divine to redeeme time from his more serious studies to the posing and puzling of the Magical-Astrological-Diviner Mr. John Gaule his Magastro-mancer posed and puzled see his Epist to the Reader induced by this very reason conscience of duty to use his owne words to stand up to speak a word for God Christ the holy Ghost Church and Saints against a presse and pest of Magical magephemerical magnastrological c. of books of late crept nay crouded in amongst us to the dishonour of God denying of Christ despighting the Spirit cauponizing of the Word disturbing the Church subverting of Religion distracting of the State scandalizing weak Christians and seducing of common people yea to the promotion of Idolatry Superstition Heresie Schisme c. We see then my brethren this sinful Art of Starre-divining as a concomitant of the sin after which we are enquiring to be too evident in the midest of us I shall a little and very briefly note to you the fitnesse of this sinful Art to characterize the sin of Altar-building that to the quickening of your affections you may more seriously heed it though it hath beene but seldome hinted and that in noting its nature and the Churches observation concerning it First as for its nature not to stand upon it as erroneous and heretical as it is in it selfe the rules of it and inferences from the same became directly contrary to the doctrine of faith not its aptitude to engage needlesse scrupulosities and superstitious observations of this as ominous and that as lucky to the enslaving a mans will in every action to the observation of every circumstance and subjection to the Starres nor yet of its uncertainty whereby the event sometimes falls contrary to the prediction as Firminus a friend to Saint Augustine found in observation of the fate of two children borne in his house at one and the same moment which yet was calculated by the starres to be the same but by the Law and custome of the Countrey proved quite contrary I shall only note its nature in relation to this sin and we shall finde it of a suitable nature to receive and propagate innovations and false will-worship not only as it is Skeptical certaine in nothing but the uncertainty of their owne assertions but also as it disposeth the Stars and Celestial bodies into the chaire of divine providence whilest as was before noted it placeth all even secrets and supreme happinesse in the power of the Planets which doctrine must needs set them as objects of admiration and so of adoration a very natural way to build Altars objectively by giving the worship and honour of the Creator and disposer of all things to the creatures without doubt this was to the Jewes as to other Nations the leading principle to worship the Queene and the hoast of Heaven nay further dictates a doctrine of universal Toleration of all religions never in the least admitting any limitation or restraint which might be of too sad a reflection upon it self Hence Ptolomy saith that the disposition or inclination which divers Countries have to worship one God before another cometh from the constellation of the Planets as Jupiter and Saturne make a Jew Mars a Persian to worship the fire Mercury a Christian and with the Moon an Antichrist so that whilest this sinful Prognosticating Art makes the Planets the authors it must needs make them indulgers and approvers of the exercise of all religions or religious formes though never so repugnant and inconsistent each to other this is sure the reason why Astrologers have in our late dayes Prognosticated very often the liberty of all religions to be exercised and no Discipline for the restraint thereof ever spoken for by them and is a fit foundation to build many Altars upon as observed experience hath too clearly evidenced for as an every dayes Sabbath is no Sabbath so an every way of worship without confinement to divine prescription is no way of true worship unto God for novelty will be building when

wrath to the causing of the earth to open her mouth and swallow them up alive How did Solomons Altars stir up divine displeasure to the rending away ten Trib●● from his Kingdome not to this day restored What sad monuments of divine justice and fury hath it made Jerusalem and Samaria it were easie to evidence the increasing property of this sin but this may suffice to such as do but consider the fiercenesse of the Lords fury which will make the mountaines to melt and hills to shake Mic. i. 4. and Kings of the earth to tremble for who can stand before his frown much more fatal then the frowne of the most cruel Turkish tyrant threatening present death Can this Lion roare and the beasts of the earth not tremble Amos 1.2 If while his wrath is kindled but a little they be happy that trust in Christ what terrour must possesse them that by their Altars-building are naked before it Psal 2.12 Exo. 32.25 so that the sinne must needs be vile to be avoided and seasonably seene to that is so highly displeasing unto God I have now done with the third thing in the discovery of the sinfulnesse of building Altars beside the Altar of God viz. the vile effects which spring from it which tasted by serious contemplation cannot but render it bitter in the mouth and excite sincere worshippers of God against it I shall only adde one thing more to the aggravation of its vilenesse and that very briefly and so passe to the Application of the Point viz. the aggravating properties The first aggravating property that may render Altar-building to be exceeding vile is the singularity of the subjects Singularity is not savoury in any it many times springs from pride and bespeaks an evil disposition this sinne is many times acted by Gods people only who know the true God and have worshipped at the true Altar this sin God himself aggravates with this very property in Jer. 2.11 expostulating with them Hath any Nation changed their gods though they be no gods and yet my people have changed their glory for that which will not profit and Isa 65. v. 5. the rebellious people which follow their owne thoughts and burne incense upon Altars of Brick have their sin aggravated by their singularity they say Stand by thy selfe come not neare me I am holier then thou as that which makes a smoak in Gods nostrils and a fire to burne all the day so that this addes much to this vile sinne The isses of Chittim and coast of Kedar will not afford a parallel or shew such a thing for whilst the Ephesians suspecting any innovation against their Diana run together with great zeal crying Great is Diana of the Ephesians and readily contend for their Idol-goddesse and superstitious worship as resolved not to change though for a better and the Athenians though given to novelty think Paul odious in seeming to set forth new gods the people of the true God are only seene to change sometimes the object but many times the Altar the true God hath prescribed to be worshipped at The second aggravating propertie of Altar-building is that it is committed against standing directions dictated Lawes and Ordinances Gods revealed will and pleasure concerning his Altar and Worship as it is Israels glory that no Nation is so great a Nation that hath such Statutes and Judgements Deut. 7. as all the Law of the Lord their God so it is laid on them as the greater duty to take heed to themselves and to keep their soul diligently that they forget them not but teach them to their sons sons sons and observe to do them it is also their great aggravation Acts 17 13 that they forsake the Covenant of their God go away from his Statutes forget his Lawes cast off his Commandments to create to themselves an Altar and Worship according to their owne inventions and though the Athenian ignorance may extenuate their superstitious worship at the Altar to the unknown God yet now light is come abroad and God calls to repentance they must walk as children of the light for ignorance can now be no plea where prescript rule is proposed now as rebellion against a Kings Proclamation and disobedience against a fathers declared will so is this Altar-building hainous and abominable because against directions exhibited The third aggravating property of this sinne of Altar-building is that it shuts Gods eares against prayer What is spoken of sinnes in general in Isa 59.2 Your sins have hid his face from you that he will not heare is applicable nay applied to this sinne in special where God not only declares that when Israel his Altar-building people did cry to him in their trouble he would not hear them Ier. 11.11 but also prohibits the Prophets praying Thou shalt not pray for this people neither lift up a cry or prayer for them and that is urged with a therefore viz. because according to the numbers of the streets of Ierusalem they have set up Altars ver 12 13. Let me alone Moses was the angry voice of God produced by the Calf and Altar at Horeb Exod. 32.10 How just is it with God to deny the Petitions of them that deny prescriptions from him in the way of his owne worship Prov. 1.25 to 33. For as children when stubbornly following their own * Si cursum vitae nostrae propriis consiliis regere volumus religionis fideique neg●tium secundum rationem nostram instituere idem nobis accidit quod pueris quos parentes primum docent incedere c. Lav. in Prov. 1.31 wills fall into harme their cries are not compassionated by the tender parent so deales God with his stubborne people that make their wills the way or rule of his divine worship I have now done with the Doctrinal consideration of the Point and shall leave it to the judgements of the sincere worshippers at God● Altar to consider whether a sinne springing from such causes exercised in such acts producing such effects subject to such aggravations be not exceeding sinful and if but suspected to be undertaken sufficient to stir the zeale of the ten tribes to the resistance thereof much to be seene to sorrowed for and soone suppressed where it is really and indeed acted I shall now briefly apply to our more particular instruction The first Use of the point may be of enquiry and humiliation to put us apon the search whether in the midst of us we may not see some of our brethren professing the same and who have worshipped in the same Gospel-worship with our selves to withdraw from the Altar of God and erect Altars after their owne inventions which if we finde our hearts should be heavie in us and our eyes filled with tears as humbling our selves for so grievous a guilt and upon enquiry he that is not wilfully blinde cannot but see beyond the river in the Church of Rome material besides formal Altars built besides the