Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	adoption_n	cry_v	father_n	9,732	5	5.0154	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00671	A treatise of vsurie diuided into three bookes: the first defineth what is vsurie. The second determineth that to be vnlawfull. The third remoueth such motiues as perswade men in this age that it may be lawfull. By Robert Fenton Bachelar of Diuinitie.	Fenton, Roger, 1565-1616.	1611 (1611)	STC 10806; ESTC S101958	118,517	170

soules Neither let our silence incourage any to practise this sin We would be glad that generall reprehensions out of the pulpit might suffice Wee are loth to take Nathan his office vpon vs and say Thou art the man except wee had some speciall commission as he had It is a thanklesse office Besides we take notice of those crimes only which are written in mens foreheads wee haue no warrant to examine your bookes of Accounts Let the inquirie then come from your selues giue vs incouragement to deale plainly sincerely and directly with your consciences If we be ouer soft and indulgent with you in that businesse take no aduantage therefrom to the hurt of your soules men of the best profession will be men and not Angels And for your better resolution in this particular let me obserue vnto you that vpon the best inquirie that I can make I finde not any one Diuine new or old of what religion or sect soeuer who hath euer passed the presse in this point not any Diuine I say for Molinaeus was a Ciuilian who hath vndertaken to examine this question no not any of the supposed patrons of vsurie who hath defended the same as it is before defined and commonly practised with the greatest moderation nine eight or seuen in the hundred I did thinke at the first I should haue found some and some I haue found who doe coast ouer neere vpon it and some who do giue ouer much libertie in that kinde Yet not any of thē let Bullinger go who writeth no whit to our purpose but most confusedly taketh mistaketh vsurie for all commerce in rents reuenewes bargaine and sale merchandizing c. not any I say who hath euer taken this question in hand to sift and examine it but in conclusion their cautions and limitations by them added being likewise sifted and examined their resolution is still contrarie to your ordinarie and most moderate practise If any man therefore shall take you aside as Peter did Christ to fauour your dealings in this kinde suspect that whispering to sauour not the things that are of God but the things that be of men CHAP. III. Answering the second motiue for Orphans Widowes and old men past trading FRom example we passe to affection which is as blinde and peruerse in iudgement as the other is powerfull to leade into error the affection of pity and compassion which of all others doth preuaile most euen amōg the better sort because it seemeth to arise out of charitie But charitie is no charitie if it oppose iustice It is both a foolish and cruell pitie which so tendreth the outward estate of any to the hurt and preiudice of the soule If vsurie say they be not lawfull for any to practise alas what shall become of those Orphans and Widowes in these vniust daies which haue stocks of money left vnto them and want skill to employ the same What shall become of them By the helpe of God they may doe well My greater care is what shall become of those Orphans and Widowes in these vncharitable daies which haue no stocks at all left vnto them though I confesse both the one and the other are alike in this that they be not so able to help themselues as others be Therefore there bee no two estates amongst men ouer whom God hath a more prouident and tender care then ouer widowes and fatherlesse children He hath prouided for them by a speciall law Thou shalt not trouble any widow or fatherlesse childe His iudgements lie heauie vpon the transgressors of that law If thou vex or trouble such then my wrath shall be kindled and I will kill you with the sword and your wiues shall be widowes and your children fatherlesse No one law more iterated by Moses and frequently vrged by the Prophets then this for the safegard of Orphans and widowes Whom if mortall men shall neglect God himselfe in his fatherly prouidence will bee their protector He is a father of the fatherlesse and iudge of the widow euen God in his holy habitation Yea God would worke a miracle rather then the poore widow of the sonne of the Prophets with her two fatherlesse children should want The Sonne of God sheweth the like tender affection in denouncing a woe against such as deuoured widowes houses And his Apostle Iames measureth pure religion and vndefiled before God euen the father by charitie towards the fatherlesse and widowes Hath God then so many waies bound himselfe by promise to prouide for widowes and Orphans and shall these by vsurie withdraw themselues out of his fatherly prouidence Shall these be secured by vsurious contracts against the act of God himselfe Verily God will take it more vnkindly at their hands then at any other See the difference in this point betwixt the wisedome of the world and of God The world thinketh vsurie the best and the safest way for Orphans and widowes because it doth secure them most from all casualties which might fall vpon their stocks and estates by any act either of God or man The wisedome of God contrariwise is that these persons should most of al cast their care vpon God because he careth most of all for them But of all practises vsurie doth most withdraw them from dependance vpon Gods fatherly prouidence which best beseemeth their condition If vsurie then be a thing vnlawfull in case of Orphans it is most vnlawfull And vndoubtedly if Almightie God in wisedome had thought it meete to haue tolerated vsurie in these persons he might as easily haue mentioned the same as he doth the toleration of lending to strangers But it was so farre from Gods meaning that in the very fame place where hee maketh a law for the safegard of Orphans and widowes presently and immediatly vpon it is annexed the law against vsurie Shal these then who are so well prouided for by a speciall law of God be transgressors of the very next law vnto it God forbid Let them not come neere vnto that transgression of all other let not them of all others come neere vnto it Orphans are comming into the world widowes who intend so to continue are going out of the world and shall these two Ages which of all others ought to be most holie and heauenlie the one for innocencie and the other for deuotion be stained with vsurie Christ is Alpha and Omega vnto vs the first and the last the beginning and the end and shal the alpha of our nonage and the omega of our dotage be dedicated vnto vsurie 1. Christ calleth himselfe by the name of a letter the first letter in the Alphabet that children might learne Christ so soone as they be able to know their letters and shall wee suffer our children to bee died in the wooll of their infancie with the scarlet sinne of vsurie The spirit of Adoption teacheth vs to crie Abba father Abba is the first word that children

vsurie Thou shalt not giue him thy money to vsurie nor lend him thy victuals for increase I am the Lord your God which brought you out of the land of Egypt c. And againe Thou shalt not take vsurie of him nor aduantage but thou shalt feare thy God As if vsurie and the feare of God could not stand together Ezechiel also concluding all the abominations therein mentioned with vsurie hee sealeth it vp with that fearfull censure Shall he liue he shall not liue he shall die the death his blood shall be vpon him And as Dauid doth excommunicate the Vsurer out of the Tabernacle of Gods Church and depriue him of eternall rest in the holy hill so doth his sonne Salomon menace a curse vpon his wealth so gotten and vpon his posteritie who hoped to haue enioyed the same He that increaseth his riches by vsury and interest gathereth thē for him that will be mercifull to the poore That is to say the Vsurers children shall neuer enioy them How true that is which the painfull Preacher Master Smith obserued concerning the children of such in London who grow wealthie by interest and that which the penitent Merchant in D. Wilson remembreth of Vsurers issue I leaue to them who out of longer experience can speake of that point Let euery one therefore who desireth to resolue his conscience for this matter by Scripture the only true ground of a Christian resolution let him consider I say how neither vsurie nor interest biting vsurie nor increase is euer once named in the booke of God but it is condemned condemned amongst such abominations as bring a curse in stead of a blessing an eternall curse vpon the soule of the Vsurer and a temporall curse vpon his wealth posteritie Let some of these tender consciences who are so vrgent to call for warrant out of the booke of God for euery ceremonie and matter of forme in the Church seeke a warrant for this their practise which so neerely concerneth them and let them seeke it at the Oracle of God who hath not left it as he hath many other things either to the discretion of the Church or wisedome of Common-wealths but hath vouchsafed to determine it in his own booke to our hands to set downe an expresse law against it in Exodus to renue and reuiue that law againe and againe in Leuiticus and Deuteronomie to ratifie and confirme it with no other words then himselfe vsed at the publishing of the whole Morall law to specifie the only limitation which he meant to tolerate for a time to adde the promise of blessing to the keepers of this law and to denounce such fearefull iudgements against the transgressors of the same vpon their wealth and posteritie in this world vpon their owne soules in the world to come Since it hath pleased the Almightie God thus fully and exactly to expresse his will for our resolution in this point let vs not be so readie to flie from his expresse word to humane inuentions I meane those deuised distinctions which fauour the seruice of Mammon more then the seruice of God which sauour the things that be of men to wit the profit the ease the securitie the sweete gaine of Interest a trade which flesh and blood must needes affect and be greatly inclined vnto CHAP. III. Of the testimonie of ancient Fathers THere be a sect of spirits in the world who can not with patience endure to heare any authoritie alleaged saue onely Scripture as if the very bare text it selfe did speake so euidently to their vnderstanding that there were no neede of an Interpretour And it falleth so out in this businesse as it doth in few points of question besides that I could be very well content they would retaine their opinion still and put all Interpretors to silence so might we spare further labour and the question were at an end For the text neuer mentioneth any kinde of vsurie but with detestation without distinction difference qualification condemning it cursing it denouncing plague vpon plague vpon it as vpon a sinne most odious But see how strangely it is come about of late times that euen those spirits which are most nice in these points now the question is come to a matter of profit and gaine are of all others most readie to auoid the text by new deuised trickes and inuentions of men Against these let vs aske counsell of the ancient and holy Fathers of the Church So doth God by his Prophet direct his people of that time Aske for the old way which is the good way and walke therein and you shall finde rest for your soules The way of these ancients next to the Apostles was the old way and no doubt the good way if we had grace to walke in it We thinke our selues wiser then they but I am sure they had more religion then we Of this new learning for the defence of vsurie I confesse they were altogether ignorant Though they were fathers yet concerning naughtinesse they were children as the Apostle wisheth them to be they did simply and plainly take the holy Ghost as hee spake conforming themselues to the Scriptures in this point most exactly neuer mentioning vsurie but condemning of it with so many inuectiues as would fill a whole volume of themselues But it shall be sufficient for vs only to giue a taste of some few resting our selues vpon this generall obseruation as for this point vnanswerable that we finde not any of them which writeth of it but writeth against it without any mincing or qualifying of the matter If wee reuerence the iudgement of reuerend men both for their learning and sanctimonie of life let vs begin with that ancient holy Father who hath fully expressed himselfe for this point S. Basil the great that little sparke of Religion as Nazianzen calleth him left alone in the East when all true professors seemed to be extinct In his Supplement vpon the 15. Psalme he taketh this point in hand grounding his censure first vpon the Law and Prophets which in his vnderstanding doe cleerely sorbid vsurie and account it amongst the most hamous transgressions To exact of the poore which borroweth for neede is inhumane yet such inhumanitie was practised in his daies Which thing though it be not the point now in question yet the relation which that Father maketh of it doth directly strike at the nature of all vsurie whatsoeuer Take Salomons rule saith Basil to the borrower drinke of the waters of thine owne well sell thy cattell thy plate thy household stuffe thy apparell sell any thing rather then thy libertie Worthily is vsurie termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the same Father continueth his speech for it breedeth and bringeth forth so many mischiefes one in the necke of another an vnnaturall brood like the generation of vipers which eateth through the entrals of the mother An vnnaturall and monstrous brood for whereas all fruites and cattel