Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	abate_v	body_n	languish_v	18	3	10.9108	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A54873	A funeral sermon upon the sad occasion of the death of Mordecai Abbott, Esq. preach'd the 17th of March 1699-1700 by John Piggott.	Piggott, John, d. 1713.; Abbott, Mordecai, d. 1700?	1700 (1700)	Wing P2220A; ESTC R28440	25,005	96

Lord. The Eccles 3. 4. wise Man tells us that there is a time to mourn and a time to weep as well as for other things certainly it cannot be an unfit season to weep when God takes away our pious Friends that have been eminently useful and publick Blessings to a Nation And 't is observable how the Prophet complains of the gross Stupidity of the Jews who were insensible under the signs of the Divine Displeasure Isa 57. 1. The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart And we find also that 't is threatened as a Jer. 22. 18. Judgment when any die without being lamented yea 't is said to Job 27. 13 14 15. be the Portion of the wicked from God and the Heritage of the Oppressor that they are cut off and their Widows shall not weep So that upon the whole 't is very evident that St. Paul in my Text has no design in his Disswasive from immoderate Sorrow to recommend the Stoical Apathy for the Rules of the Christian Institution have no tendency to eradicate our Passions but to correct and govern ' em And here I cannot but remark that what has been said casts no favourable Aspect on the Doctrine of the Stoick Philosophers which teaches that Men are to stifle all natural Affections both of Joy and Sorrow that no outward Emoluments should move the Affection of Joy and that a Person should be as easy and as free from the passion of Grief in a violent Paroxism of the Gout or Stone as if he were in perfect health in the midst of the most ravishing Delights 'T is reported of Possidonius a Stoick Philosopher who passed a great part of his Life under very acute Diseases that being visited by Pompey at Rhodes he entertain'd him with a Philosophical Discourse and when his Pains were the most sharp and violent he chid 'em in such Language as this * Nil agis dolor quanquam sis molestus nunquam te esse confitebor malum In vain dost thou assault me Pain tho thou art troublesom thou shalt never force me to confess thou art evil Indeed could the pomp of words abate our painful Sensations there would be some shew of reason in this Philosopher's method but since the contrary is evident by universal Experience 't was an instance of great Pride and the most ridiculous Folly And 't is worth remarking that the greatest Masters in this Philosophy when they fell into sharp Adversity suddenly sunk into such deep Despair and Impatience that they laid violent hands upon themselves I need only name Cato and Brutus the most eminent among 'em who as one observes professing themselves to be wise in their Speculations became Fools in Practice and were confounded with all their Philosophy when they should have made use of it Which brings to my mind a Passage I have read of Seneca who was not a little inclin'd to the Stoick Philosophy who tells us that at the death of his dear Friend Annaeus Serenus he * Epist 63. Inter exempla eorum fui quos dolor vicit was found of the number of those whom Grief overcame Upon which one remarks That Nature was too strong for his Philosophy tho at other times none outbraves the Misfortunes of Life or the Terrors of Death at a higher rate as if they had not the least power to move his wise Man So that upon the whole we see the insufficiency of Philosophick Axioms to support a Mind overwhelm'd with Sorrow but that which Philosophy has vainly attempted Divine Revelation has fully compleated and finish'd as will be evident when I consider the Arguments St. Paul uses in the Text to disswade from mourning as those that have no hope But before I touch upon them I must be a little more particular in this other matter I have already told you what kind of Sorrow for the dead the Scripture indulges but that which is without hope you see our Text condemns Now our mourning may fall under this Character First When 't is excessive in the measure and degree Secondly In the length and continuance First When 't is excessive in the measure and degree as it may be deem'd 1. When our Sorrows are vented in impatient Murmurs and indecent Reflections upon the Conduct of Divine Providence as if when our Friends are taken from our Society God had done an unjust an unmerciful or an unwise Act. This is very criminal for hereby we affront him in his moral Perfections and seem to dispute with him about the Rights of his Godhead forgetting that he is our absolute Soveraign and has an original and unalienable Right in us and ours For as it was merely an Act of his choice to give us a Being all his subsequent Bounties can have no other Original than his own good pleasure And since he bestows his Favours upon us without our merit he may justly when he pleases recal 'em without our leave for his fundamental right in us and our Friends skreens him from the least shadow of Injustice when by Death he removes them from us So that if while we are mourning for our deceas'd Friends we permit our Passions to mutiny so as to utter any unbecoming Reflections on the Skilfulness of the Divine Hand 't is a strong evidence that our Sorrows are too excessive And this kind of Excess and Impatience seems to have overcome David when in the most mournful Accents and in an uncommon strain he laments the tragical end of his rebellious Son Absalom as the Text informs us The King was much mov'd and went 2 Sam. 18. 33. up to the Chamber over the Gate and wept and as he went thus he said O my Son Absalom my Son my Son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my Son my Son But 2. We sorrow like those without hope when our Grief does so ruffle our Minds and enfeeble our Bodies as to render us uncapable to discharge the special Duties of our Relation and Place and to exercise those Graces which are eminently useful and very necessary to be called forth into act in a time of solemn mourning and deep sadness If the Mind be greatly pensive and thrown into a convulsive Agony and do long continue so sadness and disorder will appear in the Countenance for the Laws of Union betwixt Body and Soul are so strict that 't is impossible for the Faculties of the Mind to be indispos'd but the Organs of the Body will be sensible of it and suffer by it For as any injury done to the Body occasions painful Sensations in the Mind so a violent hurry of the Powers and Passions of the Soul will soon abate the strength of the Body which while it declines and languishes increases the disorder of the Spirit so that by an unaccountable Sympathy they become partners in each others Sorrows and mutually hinder the performance of holy Duties and the exercise of Faith Hope and Patience for