Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	body_n	call_v	soul_n	13,519	5	5.4839	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44239	The Holy fast of Lent defended against all its prophaners, or, A Discourse shewing that Lent-fast was first taught the world by the apostles, as Dr. Gunning, now Bishop of Ely learnedly proved in a sermon printed by him in the year 1662 by His Majesties special command together with a practical direction how to fast.	Gunning, Peter, 1614-1684.	1677 (1677)	Wing H2525; ESTC R40999	45,046	54

eateth to the Lord for he giveth God thanks and he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks and v. 17. The Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink but Righteousness and Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost So that it seems by the H. Apostle that it matters not whether I eat Flesh or I abstain from Flesh in Lent so I give God thanks I am every whit as good a Christian though I eat as if I abstained Read the 14 v. and that will help you to correct your mistake I know and am perswaded by the Lord Iesus that there is nothing unclean of it self but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean to him it is unclean By which words it 's manifest the Romans case and ours is quite different The scrupulous Romans seem to have had a difficulty to eat Flesh or drink Wine as imagining them to be in themselves unclean either for that they had been offered up to Idols or prohibited by the abolished Law of Moses or as naturally unclean and necessarily enclining them to sin but we abstain from them upon none of all these accounts but judge them as clean in themselves as any other Creatures of God only we deem them less suitable to a Penitential time then drier and less savory Viands and smaller sorts of drink But moreover you must give me leave to tell you that according to the doctrin of S. Paul in this very Chapter you ought if you will walk Christianly to abstain from Flesh in Lent at least upon the account of not scandalizing your weak Brethren who think themselves obliged to abstain from Flesh those days of Christian Pennance Hear the Apostles own words v. 15. If thy Brother be grieved with thy meat now walkest thou not Charitably and v 21. It is good neither to eat Flesh nor to drink Wine nor any thing whereby thy Brother stumbleth or is offended or is made weak Though as I was telling you our case is quite different from the Christians at Rome to whom S. Paul writes We abstain from flesh in Lent not as deeming it in it self unclean as some scrupulous weaklings amongst them did but having Testimonies from all Christian Countrys and from the undoubted writings of the prime Pillars of Christianity in the most Primitive Times that the Apostles so ordained and being besides commanded so to do by our Civil and Ecclesiastical Superiours who are ordained of God to countenance Well doers and to watch for our souls good as they who must give an account whom we think our selves obliged in Conscience to obey in all their Lawful commands but especially in such commands which when sincerely and undeceitfully observed tend to the great Spiritual advantage of our souls There are other places commonly urged by mis-understanders of Holy Scriptures against Abstinence from Meats upon a Religious account but to any one that considers the whole context and all circumstances they evidently appear nothing to the purpose For they are all intended against Superstitious Abstinence from Meats either as unclean by Creation or as unclean because prohibited by the Antiquated Law of Moses or as having been offered up to Idols or as because eaten with unwashen hands against frivolous and useless Traditions of men Thus when our B. Saviour S. Mat. 15. 11. tells us Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man but that which cometh out of the mouth this defileth a man It s manifest by the occasion of his saying those words v. 2. The Scribes and Pharisees quarrelling with his Disciples for not washing their hands before they did eat Bread and by what follows v. 20. To eat with unwashen hands defiles not a man that he never intended by those words to signifie that we might upon a day or time of publick Humiliation recommended to us by our Superiors without defiling our selves eat what we please when we please or as oft as we please But at least is it not against the Laws of the Land to abstain from certain Meats upon a Religious account Here you must distinguish To abstain from certain Meats upon a pretendedly Religious but indeed Superstitious account as if some Meats were less Holy or more unclean than others is both against God's Laws and Mans Laws but to obstain from certain Meats upon a truly Religious and indeed pious account as judging some Meats more suitable to Penitential days and seasons than others is according both to the Laws of God and our Nation Hear our Laws themselves and be your own judges of the meaning of them Statute 2. and 3. Edward 6. c. 19. The Kings Subjects having a more clear light and thereby perceiving that one Meat is not more holy more pure or more clean than another and that no Meats can defile Christian Men so that they be not used in Disobedience or Vice yet for as much as divers of the Kings Subjects have of late time more than in times past broken and contemned such Abstinence which hath been used in this Realm upon the Friday and Saturday the Embring days and other days commonly called Vigils and in the time commonly called Lent and other accustomed times the Kings Majesty considering that due and Godly Abstinence is a means to Vertue and to subdue mens Bodys to their Soul and Spirit and considering also that Fishers c. doth Ordain and Enact with the Assent of the Lords Temporal and Spiritual c. That no person or persons of what Estate Degree or Condition he or they be shall at any time after the first day of May 1549. willingly or unwittingly eat any manner of Flesh upon any Friday or Saturday or the Ember days or in any day in the time commonly called Lent Take Bishop Gunnings Reflection hereupon The scope and reason and motive of which Law if it be considered according to the principal end of it subduing the Flesh to the Soul and Spirit for there is added another end also which was political may well admonish us though it was hard to contain the particulars in a Law to abstain also at such times of Mortification from what soever Food else is more delicate costly of hotter nature and of higher nourishment The formers of that Law which is now the Law of our Land had no doubt before their eyes the approbation of God and his gracious answer to Daniel so Chastening himself as in the holy Scripture is described Dan. 10. 2 3. 12. In those days I Daniel was Mourning three full weeks I ate no pleasant Bread neither came Flesh nor Wine in my mouth neither did I anoynt my self at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled Then said he unto me Fear-not Daniel for from the first day that thou didst s●t thine heart to understand and to chasten thy self before thy God thy words were heard and I am come for thy words Which that Ministers of Gods Word should not as well have before their eyes as our civil