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
A66606	A sermon preached before the mayor, aldermen, and Common-Council of Nottingham in St. Peter's Church, on the 14th of Febr. 1688/9 being the thanksgiving day for our deliverance from popery and arbitrary power / by W. Wilson.	Wilson, William.	1689 (1689)	Wing W2956; ESTC R39123	18,013	45

his Praise though they forgot his Works Psal 106 12 13. Humane Nature is so contrived that there is not a monster in Nature nor an unseen or unheard of rarity but has Power to six our Spirits and work upon our Curiosity so far upon the first view or notice of it as to interrupt for a time and put a stand to the most weighty affairs that are upon our hands Strange and unusual sights do so insensibly glide into our minds and captivate our affections that we have not power to resist the charm and according to their concernment and advantage to us excite in us joyfull transports and endear the cause thereof to our Souls This is the reason of all those Songs of Praise and joyfull Festivities that we read were composed by Moses when the Egyptians were drown'd by Deborah when Barack subdued Sicera and were instituted by the Jews when they were delivered from Haman's conspiracy and the like They saw strange things and stood amazed and how apt soever they were to start aside from the God of Isaac yet when the Power and Goodness of his Works did check their wandering minds They feared and glorified God. And 2. The reason of this is because of the Agreeableness of Knowledg to the mind of Man the little knowledge we have of the Divine Perfections and the want of attending and applying our minds to the consideration of his Ecellencies so far as we know them 1. The Agreeableness of Knowledg to the mind of Man which is as gratefull to the discerning faculty of our Souls as light or the most amiable Object is to the Eye The understanding is no more satisfied with knowing than the Eye is with Seeing and every faculty of our Nature must necessarily be delighted with that good that does belong to it and in the enjoyment of which does consists it happiness This the Devil did so well understand that when he tempted Eve to disobedience he represented the forbidden Fruit not onely as good and pleasant Food but as delightfull to the Eyes and a fruit to make her Wise Taking an advantange from those desires that are in the ruling Powers of our Bodies and Souls the Eye and the Unnderstanding to deceive and conquer And now is it any wonder that a Creature that does aspire after Knowledg and is so extremely satisfied with the emprovements of his Understanding should be mightily affected with such strange things as present themselves to his contemplation besides the ordinary course of Nature There is something so gratefull in Novelties as does not only prompt us to search after them but detains us against our wills in the contemplation thereof How much pleased are we to hear or read the strange reports of foreign Countries the mighty exploits of great and heroick persons and the accounts that such as have been in the remote parts of the World do give of their travels 'T is this unbounded desire of knowing does tempt Men to leave their native Soil and carries them through a thousand dangers to enquire after unknown customes and unheard-of rarities of even barbarous Nations and it is the same desire of and satisfaction in Knowledg that makes such strange occurrences as happen beside our expectation to arrest our thoughts and spirits and is the occasion of that admiration they generally fill us with for while things are plain and accountable to us we stay not to admire them because our Minds do easily penetrate and see the utmost that is in them but when Events are great and unusual and the Causes thereof lie so deep and secret that our Minds cannot presently and easily reach them they call together our amazed Spirits and suspend their operations upon the Body that they may the more freely and without interruption contemplate the Wonder and with stronger and more vigorous attentions pierce through the Difficulty to behold the Cause and when the strongest efforts of our collected Spirits are too feeble to make the discovery we stand still and admire what we are not able to comprehend 2. Because our knowledge of the divine Perfections is imperfect although God has been pleased to imprint upon our Souls an Idea of himself yet it is only such as the narrowness of our faculties can receive we can no more comprehend the Immensity and Majesty the glorious Excellencies and Perfections of an infinite God than a small Bucket can hold the Water in the Ocean 'T is in the contemplation of his Works that we best come acquainted with his Boing and Excellency but when holy Job had recounted them to himself he at last broke out into that astonishment Lo these are the parts of his ways but how little a portion is heard of him the thunder of his power who can understand Job 26.14 And indeed when we consider that God in the Works that he has made has not done all that is possible with infinite Power not only our knowledge of him must necessarily be imperfect and very little portion of him be heard and seen in the Works of his Creation and Providence but the strange and unusual occurrences of the World that either depend upon no visible causes or are in their circumstances too big for their agency must necessarily fill us with admiration and wrap our minds into a kind of ecstasie because in them we see more of God's Power and Goodness than is visible in the things we daily contemplate Was it possible for us to see God face to face and know so much of his excellent Nature as the Angels and perfect Spirits do into how great astonishment would the first Revelation of so great Majesty and Glory strike us Would it not seize us with as much pleasure and delight and for the time give such a stop to the motions of our Spirits that like St. Paul in his rapture we should not be able to tell whether we were in the Body or no And how can it otherwise be but when God in his wonderous and strange works as he calls them does discoverment of himself and the greatness of his Perfections than in those which we constantly contemplate that according to the discovery we should be amazed and glorifie God and fear saying We have seen strange things to day 3. Because we do not consider the divine Perfections so far as we are capable of knowing them the things of this lower World have so much power over our Minds and visible objects do so much lie in our way we are so much commanded by our Senses and Imagination does work so strongly in us that the operations of our superiour faculties are mightily check'd and dull'd thereby and it is but at some times and seasons and that with difficulty too that we command our Senses to stand still and call up our Minds to the more noble employment of contemplating the Glories of the divine Nature God has been pleased to furnish us with such faculties and to reveal himself under so great and excellent