Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	world_n	worship_v	worthy_a	39	3	6.7954	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39584	Hagioi axioi, or, The saints worthinesse and the worlds worthlesnesse both opened and declared in a sermon preached at the funerall of that eminently religious and highly honoured Knight Sr. Nathaniel Barnardiston, Aug. 26, 1653 / by Samuel Faireclough ...	Faireclough, Samuel, 1625?-1691.	1653 (1653)	Wing F107; ESTC R16705	30,836	42

and absolutelie unable to requite yet I hold my self for ever obliged to embrace every opportunitie that is offered to make my acknowledgement thereof unto each of you And therefore have I greedily laid hold on this occasion now offered to me least if I should have neglected this advantage I might never have had the like again by reason of my declining age I cannot therefore but hereby give a publick testimony before the world of my serious apprehension deep sense of those engagements which both you most honoured Ladie also every one of you renowned Gentlemen and Ladies have laid upon me and also declare my self so firmly obliged to this whole Family that I am extreamelie desirous to the uttermost of my power alwaies to approve my self Madam your Ladyships and your posterities Most devoted faithfull servant in the Lord JESUS SAMUEL FAIRECLOUGH 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or The Saints worthinesse And The worlds worthlesnesse A Funerall Sermon on Heb. 11.38 Of whom the world was not worthy THe light of Nature teacheth every man this lesson that due praise and publick acknowledgement of true worth in virtuous agents is a great provocation and a strong inducement with all ingenuous spirits to imitate those actions which are alwayes attended with honour and admiration according to that of the Oratour Laudis studio trahimur omnes we are all forceably drawn by the desire of praise Morality proceedeth further and tells us that an honourable commemoration of laudable actions is not onely a motive and an engagement to the performance of the like by the attentive auditour but is also in great measure the very Guerdon and reward it self which is justly merited by the deserving actour for who knows not that Laus est virtutis praemium honour is the reward of virtue Divinity and the Spirit of God in Scripture ascends higher and imposeth it as a duty leaving it not at our discretion but making it a divine precept in sacred Writ to render to every man that praise and honour which belongs unto him according to that of the Apostle Rom. 13.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Render to every man his due honour to whom honour is due All which being considered I conclude that it is barbarous inhumanity in Nature injurious detraction in Morality wilfull disobedience in Divinity to bury the memory and reputation of those in silence and obscurity whom the Lord by the manifestation of his grace in them hath raised to eminencie and exalted above the standard of the worlds worth and value That I might not be guilty of any of these at this time I have upon this sad occasion of the Lords removing out of the world a person of whom the world was not worthy that Worthy of Worthies Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston chosen these words and made them the subject of my following discourse Wherein you have held forth to you at the first view the Saints worthinesse and the worlds worthlesnesse Both these are weighted as Beza notes upon the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a pair of Scales and Balances 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de iis dicitur quae appensa ejusdem ponderis inveniuntur Beza in Rom. 8.18 the standard and beam at which they are tried is the wisdome and valuation of the Lord himself who layes a Believer naked or clothed onely in a sheeps-skin and leathern coat verse 37. in one scale and puts the world with all its Glories in the other and having most exactly pondered and tried the worth of both of them concludes positively for the believer against the world and openly declares that the worldis not worthy of him The words for the substance of them much resemble that hand-writing on the wall against Belshazzar Dan. 5.25 Mene menetekel perez As if the Apostle had said Mene O world all thy perfections and excellencies are numbred and finished Tekel they are weighed in the balance with a naked believer and found too light Peres and therefore the honour of all thy worth and excellency is taken from thee and given to the believer of whom the world is not worthy In the further interpretation of which words although the narrow compasse of one hour allotted to this duty forbids me to meddle with any discourse of the Analysis coherence or dependance of the words and you to expect any accurate division or prelix explication of them yet before I come to propound that one Observation out of them on which I purpose to insist I shall borrow so much light from the precedent and subsequent words and other Scriptures as may open the text in these three particulars 1. What that world is that is so worthlesse 2. Who are those persons that are so worthy 3. In what respects that world is so unworthy of these persons 1. For the first what world it is that is so worthlesse The Text opened may clearly be understood by the opposition hinted in the text viz. the persons against whom it is weighed which are believers and therefore the world affirmed to be so worthlesse is the world of unbelievers That world out of which the Church is called John 15.18 That world for which Christ doth refuse to pray John 17.9 That world which cannot receive the Spirit John 14.17 Together with the Trinity which that world worshippeth pleasures profits and honours as it is described 1 John 2.16 This is that world which is here affirmed to be so worthlesse and unworthy 2. The persons affirmed to be so worthy are manifestly described in the words before and after the text 1. By their externall gath and condition 2. By their internall worth and disposition For their externall garb and condition it is very low and mean for they are here brought forth in leathern coates foodlesse monilesse easelesse destitute afflicted and tormented yea harbourlesse also for they wander up and down and lodge in demes and caves This and no better is the outward condition of these worthy persons expressed in the verses before and after 37.38 Their internall worth and disposition is set down verse the 39. All these obtained good report for their faith Famous for their precious faith which is much more precious then gold wherein they excelled and were thereby dignified and honoured both whilest they lived and also after their deaths These are the worthy persons 3. We will consider in what respect the world is unworthy of these persons The world is unworthy of these persons in a threefold respect according to a threefold unworthinesse mentioned in Scripture 1. Indignitas dispositionis an unworthiness of disposition either by privative undesert or positive contempt as the Jews Acts 13.46 are said to be unworthy of eternall life and the rich blessings of the Gospel for their despising and contempt of it Thus though the believer like the Gospel comes with fulnesse of blessing wheresoever he comes being a blessing to the family where he dwells as Joseph to Patiphars to the businesse wherein he is

imployed as Jacob to Labans to the nation where he converses and to whom he relates as Abraham to all the nations in the earth blessing them 1. with his prayer as Abraham blessed Abimelech 2. with his presence as Lot the city of Sodom 3. with his example shining amongst them to their conversion as the woman 1 Pet. 3.1 2. yet these blessings the world contemnes and despiseth and persecutes the bringers of them And thus first the world is unworthy of the Saints 2. Indignit as proportionis there is an unworthinesse of proportion by un●etnesse and unsutablenesse as 1 Cor. .2 are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters that is unfit unable for such a work and 1 Cor. 11.29 yeeat and drink unworthily that is unfitly unsutably otherwise then is agreeable to the pure fellowship with Christ in such holy mysteries So the world in this respect is unworthy of the Saints altogether unfit unsutable indisposed to live and enjoy society and fellowship with them light and darknesse being no more opposite then the Believer to the Infidel 2 Cor. 6.14 3. Indignit as pratii there is an unworthinesse of price and valuation as Rom. 8.18 I account not the sufferings of this life worthy of the glory to be revealed that is not of equall and proportionable value but of farre inferiour worth and virtue so as they deserved not to be named not to be compared together in respect of their excellencies And in this respect the world is not worthy of the Saints that is it is of farre inferiour price virtue and excellency the righteous even in such a degree is more excellent then his neighbour Which interpretation of the words shall be further verified in that observation which as the result of the whole text thus opened I shall now propound The Spirit of God setteth a farre higher price The Doctrine propounded and valuation upon the meanest believer then the whole world besides for of him the world is not worthy The observation being so diametrically opposite to the judgement practise and that good conceit which the world hath of its own worth and so perfectly contrary to carnall reason and its apprehension will seem but a meer fiction and chimera at first hearsay be accounted a strange paradox impossible to be proved or maintained notwithstanding the Lord hath set his hand to the truth of it in the Text and also hath given plentifull testimony to it in other Scriptures I will therefore in the further prosecution of it 1. expound my meaning in it and 2. demonstrate it both from the testimony and the practise of God himself whose truth it is The meaning and sense of the Point is this Expounded Take a man to whom God hath given but as much true saving faith as a grain of mustardseed and then strip him naked or clothe him but in a sheep or goat-skin turn him out of house and home to lodge with wilde beasts in dennes and in caves of the earth deprive him of money food and estate leave him under all the miserie and torments that Satan and his instruments can afflict him withall and then set by him an unbelieving worldling clothed with Dives in purple and all the bravery of the earth put him in a palace as glorious as great Babek for his habitation let his table be dayly furnished for plenty of delicacies attendants as the great king Ahasuerus his feast was Hester 1. put a world of such men together and I affirm that what ever high conceit these men may have of themselves and their own felicities and how contemptible soever the Saints condition in comparison of theirs is reputed in this world yet the Lord setteth a farre higher price and estimation of this believer at his worst then of all them together at their best And this the Lord doth abundantly declare in Scripture holding forth Conformed 1. The verity of it 2. The equity of it The verity is manifest As to the verity 1. From the Lords expressions 2. From the Lords actions relating thereunto The Lords expressions confirming the same are First those terms of infamy and appellations of contempt 1 1. By divine expressions whereby in the Scripture he doth brand and vilifie the men of the world Secondly those titles of honour and names of excellency whereby he doth advance and magnifie the least of those little ones that believe in him For the unbelievers and men of the world Vilifying the world the Lord brands them to their everlasting contempt with these and the like appellations as that they are the seed of the Serpent slaves of Satan children of wrath dogs swine vipers yea davils and all these for this purpose to declare how unworthy and vile they are in the account estimation of God namely more vile then the basest of vermine which they tread upon no creature in the world so contemptible as they are except the devils who are therefore worse then unbelievers because they made these so bad as they are and upon the same account unbelievers are worse then the vilest of creatures because by their sinne they have made the creatures so miserable as they are But on the other side we find in Scripture the Lord intituling the meanest believer with terms of the highest honour and reputation Magnifying the Saints Exod. 19. ● Jer. 31.9 Rom. 8.27 Malach. 8.17 as calling them his Jewels his peculiar treasure his sonnes his first-born his heirs annexed with his Sonne Christ purposely to represent their dignity and his estimation of them Now let it be considered that all these expressions and appellations vilifying the unbeliever and magnifying the Saints were inspired by the Lord himself and penned by his Secretaries enrolled in his eternall word published by his messengers and all by his appointment who as he is greater then the greatest wiser then the wisest and better then the best so he is too great and too good to deny or unsay what he hath spoken or not to maintain the truth thereof against all gain-sayers Secondly as the verity is thus manifest in the Lord his expressions so also by his actions wherein his high valuation of them is declared in his actions relating unto 1. Their redemption 2 2 By divine actions In redemption Temporall Psal 126.15 2. Their remuneration First their redemption may be considered first as temporall secondly as eternall First their temporall redemption from temporall dangers O how precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints God so values their persons and liberties that he will give all the materiall world and the choicest of all the things and persons therein for the purchase of them witnesse the Prophet Isarah 43.4 Because thou wast precious in my sight and honourable I gave Egypt for thy ransome and Ethiopia and Seba for thee which are the places where the greatest abundance of all the worlds riches treasures and pearls were to

be found And lest we should conceive that the Lord did repent of the price he had given for them and would do so no more the Lord addes more in the next verse for saith the Lord so do I value and prise thee still that I will give man also for thee yea people and that in ●eat number for thy life whereby it is most evident and plain that the Lord esteems one of his people at a higher price then all Egypt Ethiopia and Seba yea then men or people and as the late Comment glosseth upon that Text God more esteemeth of one of his faithfull then a whole world of wicked ones which is the very observation that I am proving unto you Secondly the price and expense which the Lord was willing to lay out for their eternall redemption Eternall doth more abundantly verifie this for saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 1.19 Ye were not redeemed with silver or gold but with the invaluable treasure of the bloud of the Lord Jesus And the Lord doth not account them overbought or dear at that rate but professeth himself well pleased and abundantly satisfied in the purchase Matth. 3.17 yea the Lord Jesus himself rejoyceth to give his bloud for them Isa 53. whence it follows infallibly from the actions of God in their redemption in laying out so great a price for their purchase That one believer in Gods estimation is of more worth then all the world besides Secondly the Lord declareth his high valuation of the worth of the meanest believer Actions of divine remuneration by the actions of his high and gracious remuneration of their worth declaring thereby that they are not onely more worthy then this world but in a Gospel sense also worthy of the world to come so saith our Saviour Luke 20.35 They are accounted worthy of the world to come and the resurrection of the dead yea worthy of the kingdome of God 2 Thes 1.5 yea to be clothed with the most beautifull Robes of glory Revel 3.4 They shall walk with me in white for they are worthy Seeing therefore we have it under Gods hand in the Text and in other Scriptures he hath attested it both by his expressions in vilifying the world and magnifying the believer above them as also in the actions of redemption and remuneration of them it remains a most certain and undoubted verity That the Spirit of God setteth a farre higher price and valuation upon the meanest believer then the whole world besides Secondly as the Scriptures hold forth the verity Demonstrated by the equity in respect of the world 1. Vilifying God so also do they declare the equity of God in this vilifying the world and magnifying the believer 1. The equity of the Lord in this vilifying the world appears thus because the world doth so much vilifie God undervaluing him not onely to the world but preferring their sins before him yea hating him as the adulterer doth his wife for his harlot in compatison of them James 4.2 Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the love of the world is enmity to God they deifie the world and vilifie God whilest on● makes his belly his God Phil. 3.19 another saith to the wedge of gold thou art my confidence Job 31.24 a third sacrificeth to his own net Habac. L. 16. and so deifieth himself Is it not therefore equall that God should undervalue the world to the meanest of his Saints that undervalue him to the worst of their sinnes They that despise the Lord shall be despised 1 Sam. 2.30 2. Do not the unbelieving world account his Saints the filth and scumme of the world 2 2 His people and all things in it 1 Cor. 4.13 rendring them the vilest people in the earth as the Jews did Paul Acts 22.22 saying Away with them from the earth it is not meet that such fellows should live do they not thus vilifie them for the Lord's sake and the true worth that is in them and therefore it is equall and just with God to undervalue the whole world to the meanest of his Saints for the evil that is in them that do thus vilifie his Saints for the good that is found in them what measure they mete is measured to them again Matth. 7.2 Again In respect of the Saints Magnifying God it is equall with God to magnifie the meanest believer above the world because the meanest believer magnifies God and preferres the Lord above ten thousand worlds they esteem all things in the world as drosse and dung in comparison of him were it not for such God should have but little glorie in the world be but little thought on or esteemed these are they alone that extoll his name and glory above others and therefore he esteems all the world as drosse and dung in comparison of them and values them above all others They that honour him shall be honoured 1 Sam. 2.30 Lastly Their reall worth the meanest Saint in the world is found to be of more true and reall worth then all the world besides I would not be mistaken in this for I acknowledge that worth is a soveraigne attribute of God and that primarily and absolutely it belongeth to him but yet derivatively and in part it is attributed to the Saints who as the Apostle speaks 2 Thess 1.11 when they are called of God to the saith are thereby made worthy of that calling by fulfilling them with all the good pleasure of his goodnesse and the work of faith with power as if he had said filled with all divine and humane worth and all the worth of heaven and earth is communicated unto them either by imputation or infusion First all the divine worth and merit of heaven Imputed John 1.16 I mean the merits and worth of our Lord Jesus is imputed to them by which imputation they are so interested into it that they receive it fully grace for grace Secondly all humane and spirituall worth is imparted to them Imparted being filled with the holy Ghost Acts 4.31 Filled with all the fruits of righteousnesse to the praise and glory of God Phil. 1.11 They are blessed with all spirituall blessings Eph. 1.3 inriched in all things in all knowledge wisdome patience humility so that they are not destitute of any gift 1 Cor. 1.5 7. These previous imparted graces make the believer how mean soever in other respects much more worthy then all the world that wants them Christ by descending into Jordan raised it above the bounds of a corporall hath to have the honour to become a spirituall laver Pliny saith that dedication of any thing to sacred uses Plin. Praefat nat hist enhanses the price of its and we all know that things consecrated as beasts or clothes under the law had greater worth and honour put upon them thereby then either silver or gold had that wanted it Every believer is a chosen vessel and c●nsecrated to God Paul being such is better