The Excellency of a Gracious Spirit, Part 1 · Chapter 8
CAP. VIII.Cap. 8.
Bleſſe God for making this difference betweene your ſpirit, and the vile ſpirits of the men of the world.
SEeing this other ſpirit is ſo excellent and bleſſed, then doe you, to whom God hath given other ſpirits, learne to bleſſe GOD for them; the mercies of GOD to mens ſpirits are the greateſt mercies; though your conditions be meaner than others, in other reſpects, yet if your ſpirits be raiſed to an higher excellency than others, you have infinite cauſe to bleſſe the Lord, as S. Paul, Epheſ. 1. 3. Bleſſed be the Lord, which hath bleſſed us with all ſpirituall bleſsings in heavenly things, in Chriſt. What though God hath not abounded to you in outward honours, eſtates, delights, yet if he hath abounded to you in wiſdome, holineſſe, faith, humility, &c. you have no cauſe to complaine: Where God gives his Spirit, in the gifts and graces of it, there hee gives all good things; hence whereas S. Matthew ſayes, Chap. 7. 11. How much more ſhall your Father in heaven, give good things to them that aske him? S. Luke 11. 13. bringing in Chriſt ſpeaking upon the ſame occaſion, ſayes, How much more ſhall your heavenly Father give the Holy Ghoſt to them that aske him? as if all one to give his Spirit, and to give all good things: Spirituall bleſſings make all outward croſſes light and eaſie, as Prov. 18. 14. The ſpirit of a man will ſuſtaine his infirmities. Spirituall bleſſings have this excellency in them, they cauſe a man to feele no need of many outward things, which others know not how to want; and it is as good to bee in ſuch an eſtate, to have no need of a thing, as to enjoy it when we want it. And further, it is the excellency of ſpirituall bleſſings, to keep downe the body, and to carry the ſpirit above the body. It was the excellencie and glory of the Martyrs, that their ſpirits were ſo ſatisfied with mercies they had, that they ſo little regarded their bodies, when they ſuffered grievous torments, as if they had not been their own; Thus Zozomen reports of them. Spirituall bleſſings are ſuch, as inable men to improve all other bleſſings they enjoy: without theſe, the greateſt of other bleſſings would prove to bee the greateſt curſes to us; and yet further: Theſe bleſſings upon our ſpirits, coſt God infinitely more, than other bleſſings doe. Other bleſſings God can give at a lower rate, but theſe coſt the deareſt heart blood of his owne Sonne, and therefore above all let God have the praiſe of theſe. Outward bodily mercies we are unworthy of, but when we conſider of theſe, let us ſay as David, Pſal. 66. 14. Come and hearken all ye that feare God, I will tell you what he hath done to my ſoule: There God hath magnified his mercies toward me indeed. You may remember how baſe your ſpirits once were, how blinde, fooliſh, droſſie, ſenſuall, and it may bee, malicious. This S. Paul cals to minde, to ſtirre up himſelfe and others, to praiſe God for that bleſſed change he had wrought in his, and in their ſpirits: Tit. 3. 3. For we our ſelves alſo were in times paſt (ſaith hee) unwiſe, diſobedient, deceived, ſerving divers luſts, living in maliciouſneſſe and envie; hatefull, and hating one another: but when the bountifulneſſe and love of God our Saviour appeared, &c. But if your ſpirits have not beene ſo vile as ſome others, if they have been faire and ingenuous, if you have beene of ſweet natures, and tractable diſpoſitions, you have cauſe to bleſſe God in ſome reſpects ſo much the more, for the change hee hath wrought in them, for his merciemercy towards you, that you did not reſt in thoſe naturall excellencies, and miſtake them for ſaving graces, as many doe with much danger to their ſoules: and when you ſee the baſe corrupt ſpirits of other men, as thoſe who have any thing to doe in the world, ſhall meet with exceeding vile corrupt ſpirits; Cap. 9.not onelyonly in the worſt ſort of men, but in thoſe who ſeeme to be faire, in whom a man would never have thought to have met with ſuch baſe workings of ſpirit, that would make a man wonder. Oh Lord, what are the ſpirits of men? Then, I ſay, when you ſee this, bleſſe the Lord, let your ſpirits, and all that is within them, bleſſe his name, who hath put ſuch difference betweene your ſpirits and theirs; as you cannot but acknowledge, except you ſhould be exceedingly injurious to the grace of God in you.