Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	ability_n	able_a	desire_n	20	3	6.0952	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51738	The considerations which oblig'd Peter Manby dean of London-dery, to embrace the Roman Catholic religion humbly dedicated to His Grace the Lord Primate of Ireland.	Manby, Peter, d. 1697.	1687 (1687)	Wing M384; ESTC R7924	16,848	24

Rome If any body should ask me what if the. Church be manifestly corrupted with Superstition and Idolatry In this case why may not able Men Preach without any Mission I must beg leave to ask him again what if the Church finds those Men of Abilities manifestly intoxicated with mistakes of Holy Scripture With a Spirit of perverseness and a desire of change Or perhaps an evil Eye at the Lands of the Church What is to be done in this case Let the Scripture he will say determine the business But the Scripture admits of various Interpretations and I would fain know what Rebel or Heretick shall ever be convicted that must be tryed by a Law whereof himself must be the Interpreter Well but Cranmer tho' he had no Mission to Reform was perhaps a Holy Man as for his Sanctity the Reader may be pleased to see him subscribing to a Letter in Foxes Acts and Monuments for Excluding his Lawful Sovereign the Princess Mary from Succession to the Crown And afterwards Recanting the Protestant Religion and relapsing into it again when he saw no hopes of a Reprieve The truth is when I reflect that Cromwel and He were the chief Engineers of the Reformation first to Divorce Henry VIII from his most Virtuous and Innocent Wife Queen Katherine then to Marry him to Anne Bolen and afterwards to dissolve that Marriage Then to destroy Religious Houses and hang up the poor Abbots disband four or five Sacraments set the People a madding after new Lights I cannot but look upon those two Politicians as the Ring-leaders of all that Confusion and Mischief which has since broke out upon the Stage of Great Britain So much for the former Answer that Cranmer and his Associates were sent and ordain'd by the Roman Pontifical to teach the People according to the Scriptures which they did according to their own Sense of the Scriptures If it be said that he Preach'd no new Doctrine nor Administred any new Sacraments but only the Primitive Doctrine and Sacraments of Jesus Christ according to the Sense of the Antient Fathers which is the second Answer I pray the Reader to remember that this was the very Answer of Luther Socinus Zuinglius Calvin and other Reformers I am not disputing what Doctrine he Preach'd but who sent him to Preach his Protestant Doctrine and Adminster his Protestant Sacraments 'T is not his Doctrine but Mission I am now enquiring after How shall they Preach except they be sent saith St. Paul. 'T is not a pretence of true Doctrine without External and Lawful Mission that makes a Man a Preacher of the Gospel The necessity of Mission appears from God's own word Jerem. 23. I have not sent these Prophets yet they ran I have not spoken to them yet they Prophesied vers 21. Therefore they shall not profit this People at all saith the Lord verse 32. There are but two sorts of Mission in Holy Scripture the one Ordinary the other Extraordinary The former is the License and Approbation of the Church in being The latter is the immediate Voice and Inspiration of God himself ever attested by Miracles Prediction of future and publick Events c. Now as for the first Preachers of Reformation some body must send them by an Ordinary or Extraordinary Commission or they must run on their own heads Fur latro est says St. Cyprian qui à nemine Missus nisi à seipso That is to say he enters not by the Dore as honest Men do but seeks Windows Corners or By-ways of his own as if the Divine Providence were wanting when necessity requires to send Preachers into the Church or to furnish them with sufficient Credentials so as to leave us without excuse Did not the Hand of God strike Vzzah with sudden death for presuming to put forth his hand un-commanded to support the Ark from falling 2 Sam. 6. And King Vzzah with a Leaprosy to the day of his death for Offering Incense which appertain'd to the Priests alone Are not these things Recorded for our instruction The not considering this matter hath brought a World of confusion upon these Kingdoms and till the people can be brought to understand it we are never like to see an end of our Religious Distractions For why may not I may a Presbyterian Minister say having the same Authority of Scripture as Cranmer pretended to Preach against the Superstition of Common-Prayer as well as He against the Idolatry of the Mass The second point wherein I was disatisfy'd was the want of Confession to a Priest I found Protestant Sermons had some Authority with the people but not much for lack of this Curb upon their Vices Catholicks commit sin 't is true but call themselves to an account for it by Confession and Submission to their Ghostly Fathers Protestants sin likewise without calling themselves to any such reckoning because they can make a shift without it I have divers times discoursed with Protestant Ministers and some Protestant Bishops about this matter I was sorry to find no Harmony in their Opinions Some said it was a thing allow'd by the Church of England as very expedient in some cases but no matter of necessity Others thought it but a Pick-Lock of secrets and a matter of ill consequence But when I urg'd that the Church of England seems to require it in her Offices for the Communion and Visitation of the Sick the reply was she does it with this Proviso If a man be troubled with any doubts or scruples Which reply did but add more to my dissatisfaction For thought I is Confession nothing else but to be resolv'd in our scruples and doubts I have sometimes wish'd her Exhortation before the Communion otherwise worded then saying If there be any of you which cannot quiet his own Conscience let him come to Me or some other Learned Minister of Gods Word and open his grief c. Which words seem to allow as much as that sinners may satisfy their own Consciences well enough without troubling themselves for the Absolution of a Priest although a Priest may be had In short I confess my dulness understands neither the Piety nor Policy of leaving off the practise of a thing so approv'd and frequented by all the Christian World except the people of our Islands and some few others that call themselves Reformed And that only for some Abuses which possibly may attend it By this means the Church of England appears to me to have lost that Interest in the Consciences of the People which both the Roman and Greek Priests are happy in at this day And what if some Catholicks are never the better for it What are many Protestants the better for all the Sermons they hear and Sacraments they receive If we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins saith St. John. Faithful and just to what Even to his own promise which he hath thrice repeated in the Gospel Whosoevers sins ye remit they are remitted