Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	worship_n	worship_v	yoke_n	18	3	10.2329	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32734	Of wisdom three books / written originally in French by the Sieur de Charron ; with an account of the author, made English by George Stanhope ...; De la sagesse. English	Charron, Pierre, 1541-1603.; Stanhope, George, 1660-1728.	1697 (1697)	Wing C3720; ESTC R2811	887,440	1,314

were liable neither wou'd there have been any Place or possible Occasion for Bloody Offerings Expiations or Propitiatory Sacrifices This is a farther Evidence Secondly of our Weakness if we look at the Meanness of the Intention upon which that Usage grew and was encourag'd and That cou'd be no other than the Hope of Appeasing and Gratifying Almighty God by such Bloody Oblations I speak not now of the Reasons why God instituted Sacrifices but of that Notion which plainly appears to have been predominant in the Minds of Men who did not see into the Mysterious End of them which the Generality of the Jews themselves never did and much less cou'd it be expected that the Pagan World shou'd penetrate into it It is true indeed Almighty God in great Grace and Compassion to those more early and ignorant Ages of the World which knew no better did very favourably accept Good Men when they approached him with this sort of Devotion and the Apostle takes particular Notice of his having Respect to Abel and his Offering Heb. xi as the History of the Old Testament does of his testifying that Acceptance by visible Signs in the Case of Noah Abraham and Others There being this Motive to his Mercy that what was done of that kind proceeded from an Intention to serve and honour him and that the Understandings of Men were gross and heavy they were in their Minority and under a Schoolmaster as St. Paul expresses it of the Jewish People but at the same time honest and well-meaning And it is not improbable that this Opinion so universal at That time might represent Sacrifices to them as a Dictate of the Law of Nature and the only proper Method of Divine Worship There was it is confessed another Consideration which rendred Sacrifices very valuable and well-pleasing to God whereby they were made use of as Figures and Representations of that One truly meritorious Sacrifice to be offer'd upon the Altar of the Cross afterwards But this is a Mystery peculiar to the Jewish and Christian Religion And as it is a Common so is it an Excellent and Adorable Instance of the Divine Wisdom to convert what is of Human Institution Natural Usage or of a Corporeal Nature to High and Holy Purposes and make such things as the Ceremonial Law consisted of turn to a Spiritual Account But still This does not by any means infer that God took pleasure in these things as of any real Intrinsick Worth and Good in themselves For even before Grace and Truth set this Matter in its clearest Light by the Gospel the Prophets were not sparing to declare the Contrary and Those among the Jews of more enlightened Understandings saw this perfectly well and acknowledged it even while the Practice of offering them continu'd Psal li. Thus David Thou desirest no Sacrifice else would I give it thee but thou delightest not in Burnt-Offerings Psal xl Burnt-Offering and Sacrifice for Sin hast thou not requir'd And again speaking in the Person of God himself Psal l. I will take no Bullock out of thy House nor He-Goat out of thy Folds They call'd upon Men for Oblations of another kind more Noble and Spiritual more becoming Them to bring and more worthy and fit for a Holy Deity to receive The Sacrifice of God is a Contrite Spirit and the Offering of a pure Heart Mine Ears hast thou opened that I should do thy Will yea thy Law is within my Heart Offer unto God the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice And many other Passages to the same Purpose And at last to clear this Matter and put it beyond a Doubt the Son of God himself who was Truth and the Teacher of it and who condescended to come into the World that he might disabuse Mankind and rescue them from their Ignorance and Errours hath utterly abolish'd this way of serving God Which he wou'd never have done had there been any Essential Goodness in it which cou'd have recommended it for its own sake to God his Father But when He was come to be the End of the Law and the Universal Propitiation the use of Sacrifices was at an End too John iv 23 24. and then it is They that worship God must worship him in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him And without Question next to the Extirpating Idolatry This of abolishing Sacrifices is One of the most Glorious Publick Effects One of the best Reformations which Christianity hath wrought in the World And hence it was that Julian the Emperour its most professed most inveterate Enemy in Despight to it offered more Sacrifices than perhaps any other Man ever did and endeavoured to introduce This Way of Worship and Idolatry again as being both directly in Contradiction to the Christian Religion But of This we have spoken sufficiently and therefore let us now take a short View of some of the other considerable Branches of Religion The Blessed Sacraments when Adminished to us in Elements so common and of such mean Esteem as Bread and Wine and Water and not only so but in the very Act of Administration bearing Resemblance to the most Vulgar and Despicable Actions of Life as Wishing Eating and Drinking are plain Memento's of our continual Weaknesses and Wants our Miseries and Pollutions And as the marvellous Efficacy magnifies the Almighty Power and Goodness of God so the Need we have of them should humble us with mortifying Reflections upon our own feeble Condition Thus again Repentance is prescribed as the Necessary the only Remedy for our Spiritual Diseases and 't is plain This Considered in it self is an Act full of Shame and Reproach it upbraids us with our Faults and Follies afflicts our Souls with Grief and sad Remorse and shews us to our Selves in the Worst and most Deformed Figures that can be But however Evil and Uncomely this may seem in it self yet it is Necessary for reconciling us to God and That is enough to reconcile Us to it Another Instance may be taken from Oaths which are indeed Religious Acts when lawfully practised by Reason of the Name of God solemnly invoked in them But yet it is evident that the Common Use and Administration of these is a Scurvy Symptome a most shameful Argument how little Mankind are to be trusted What Monsters of Falshood and Treachery of Errour and Ignorance we are How vilely suspicious and distrustful the Person requiring them is and how liable to Jealousie the Person from whom they are demanded and what a mean Opinion those Law-givers who ordered them had of Mens Honesty and Truth when one's bare Word will not give Satisfaction nd as our Saviour says whatsoever is more than this Matt. V. 37. cometb of Evil. Thus you see not only how Weak and Sickly our Condition is but likewise what sort of Remedies Religion hath found it Necessary to apply for our Cure Since it may be said in some

Law of Moses Deut. xxi which ordered the stubborn and Rebellious Son to be stoned upon the Complaint of the Parents without requiring any farther Proof of the Charge than their single Deposition and provided the Presence and Concurrence of the Magistrate not so much for Examination and Tryal of the Cause as to prevent the Privacy and Passion which might attend Domestick Punishments and so to render the thing more publick and the Vengeance more exemplary and full of Terrour to others And thus even according to the Mosaick Institution the Paternal Authority was more arbitrary and extensive than it came to be since the Time of the Roman Emperours But if we descend a little Lower and observe its Decrease under Constantine the Great then under Theodosius and at last under Justinian we shall find it almost totally extinct Hence it came to pass that Children took upon them to decline and peremptorily deny Obedience to their Parents to refuse them a Part in their Possessions nay not to allow them so much as convenient Maintenance and Relief in their Necessities Hence they had considence to enter Actions against them and implead them in Courts of Judicature and an indecent a most scandalous Thing in truth it is to observe how frequent such Suits have been Some have been so wicked or so mistaken as to excuse Themselves from Duty upon pretence of Religion and dedicate That to God which their Parents had a Right to as we find Our Blessed Saviour reproaches the Jews for doing Matt. xv and the manner he mentions it in shews plainly that this impious kind of Devotion was a Practice customary among them before his Time Since that some have acted after their Examples even in the Profession of Christianity and many have held it lawful to kill a Father in one's own Defence or in case he became a Publick Enemy to the State But sure if such Relations deserve Death it ought to be inflicted by some other Hand and heretofore it was receiv'd as a general Maxim and admits of scarce any Exception * Nullum tantum scelus admitti potest à patre quod parricidio sit vindicandum nullum scelus rationem habet That no Wickedness could be committed by a Father the Heinousness whereof would justifie Parricide to kill a Father is wicked and no Wickedness can be reasonable Now the Generality of the World doe not seem duly sensible of how mischievous Consequence to Mankind this Abatement and Abolition of the Paternal Authority hath prov'd The Governments under which it was kept up and vigorously exerted have flourish'd and contain'd their Subjects in strict Duty If upon any Occasion it had been found by Experience too sharp and exorbitant prudent Care might have been taken to regulate and bring it under convenient Restraints But utterly to disannul and destroy it is by no means agreeable to Decency or Virtue and least of all to the Advantage of the Publick For when once the Reins are let loose and Countenance is given to Disobedience in private Families it quickly grows to a general Spirit of Faction and Disorder and Ungovernable Insolence and the casting off the Yoke of the Natural Parents is a bold and dangerous Step toward Rebellion against the Civil The Effect whereof hath been abundantly seen in the many Inconveniences which Governments have suffer'd upon the Relaxation or utter Rescinding of this Authority whereby in the Event they only clipt their own Wings and encourag'd Enemies and Insurrections against Themselves as was said just now The Reciprocal Duties of Parents and Children will be treated of Book III. Chap. 14. CHAP. XLVIII Of Lords and their Slaves Masters and Servants THE making use of Slaves and the Power of Lords or Masters over them The use of Slaves universal but unnatural tho' it hath been a thing receiv'd and practis'd in all Places and all Ages of the World excepting that it was considerably abated for about Four Hundred Years but now it hath since revived and obtain'd again Yet I cannot forbear looking upon it as a Monstrous Custom and highly reproachful to Humane Nature Since Brutes have nothing of this Kind among Them nor do They either compel their Fellows by Violence and Fraud or voluntarily submit themselves to Captivity This seems rather then to have been dispens'd with than approv'd by the Law of Moses But even this Indulgence accommodated to the Necessities of that People and the Hardness of their Hearts was not so rigorous as the Practice of other Places for neither was the Power so absolute nor the Slavery perpetual but the One confin'd to Rules and the Other terminated with the Seventh or Sabbatical Year Christianity finding the Usage Universal did not see fit to break in upon this Constitution but left its Proselytes at liberty in this Particular as it did in a Permission of serving and dwelling under Heathen and Idolatrous Princes and Masters For This and many other Things could not be abolish'd and set aside at once but by giving some little Discountenance to them Time hath worn them off gently and by degrees Slaves may be distinguished into Four several Kinds Several sorts of Slavery 1. Such as are Natural or born of Parents in that Condition 2. Such as are Slaves upon Force made so by Conquest and the Rights of War 3. Adjudged Slaves such as are made and awarded to be such either by way of Punishment for some Crime or for the Satisfaction of some Debt which gives the Creditors a Right to their Persons and of employing them to their own Benefit and Service This Slavery was limited among the Jews only to a certain Season Seven Years at the most the Sabbatical Year put an End to it all but in other Countries it continu'd till the Debt was discharged 4. Voluntary Slaves or such as are of their own making as Those who throw Dice for it or who sell their Liberty for a Summ of Money as it hath been the Custom to do in Germany Tacit. de mor. Ger. and is still in some Parts even of the Christian World or else such as freely surrender up Themselves to the Service of another and devote their Persons to perpetual Slavery And thus we read in the Law the Antient Jews did Exod xxi Deut. xv whose Ears were appointed to be bored with an Awl to the Door of the House in token of perpetual Servitude and that they rather chose this Condition of Life than to go free when it was in their Power This last sort of voluntary and chosen Captivity is I confess to Me the most asTonishing of all the rest and tho' all manner of Slavery seems to be an Incroachment and Violence upon Nature yet sure no Kind of it can be so unnatural as that which a Man covets and brings upon Himself That Thing which makes Men Slaves upon Constraint is Avarice The Cause of it and that which makes Men choose to be Slaves is