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	life_n	soul_n	34,804	5	5.7811	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70459	A sermon preached before the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, at the Guildhall-Chapel on the fifth of February 1681/2 by J. Lambe ...	Lambe, John, 1648 or 9-1708.	1682 (1682)	Wing L221; ESTC R17540	19,313	49

compassion of our weakness hath prescribed us rules of life which in the Love and Practice are a certain Cause an inexhaustible Fountain of Joy and Peace Which leads me to the Third head of discourse proposed namely III. To Illustrate the truth of the Assertion that this Blessed Peace and content of mind will certainly follow upon the Love and practice of the Law of God Great Peace have they that Love thy Law First now this inward Serenity or Peace of mind may either arise from the Smoothness the Steddyness the Agreement of our Actions or Secondly from a prudent government of our selves and our affairs under all circumstances and in all conditions or Thirdly from Internal Spiritual communications of courage joy and comfort to the Soul But the Love of the Law of God will both dispose us for and effectually operate to the production of Peace after all these several ways and according to all our Capacities of receiving it And First Content or peace of mind arises from the Smoothness the Steddyness and Agreement of our Actions But the Law of God is compiled with so much Wisedom and with such respect to Inclinations of the humane nature that it guides its subjects through all the parts and Scenes of life in a consonant equal sutable procedure To govern our lives by a Rule with reguard to one last End which shall run through all our actions causes Peace and Acquiescence how unwarily soever we have chosen or however we may have forced and contradicted our Wills and live in a kind of Violence to our Inclinations because we have Approved and are Resolved we are delivered from multiplicity of ends and objects from the repugnancies of contrary desires from the contradiction of divers interests from the torment of hesitation shame and confusion But the Peace which flows from the Love of the Law of God is not only the satisfaction of Order and Uniformity in our motions or the terminations of all our actions in the one great end of Glorifying God and saving our Souls But the Duties themselves which the Law requires are the proper actions of reasonable creatures the very best motions of our own minds the most exquisite Pleasures and Entertainments of our being If therefore the constant observation of a Rule be a certain Principle of Peace and Satisfaction how much more the Observation of such a Rule the commands whereof are the very vital Powers and Perfection of our Natures For the Soul enjoys and exercises its life chiefly by the mediation of the body in the way of action Such therefore as our actions are such is the Health or Sickness the Strength or Weakness the Beauty or Degeneracy of the mind Psam 19 7. 119.142 Jer. 31.33 But the Law of the Lord is Perfect It is written in our hearts it is within our selves directing us to such a government of our Affections Wills and Actions as we our selves cannot but approve For it is not a matter of dispute but we Know infallibly by an exquisite sense of the Tendencies and Inclinations of our inward life that to be wife and just to be pure and holy to imitate the life of God are the unquestionable Excellencies of our being the habits or Perfection of those Dispositions which we feel in our selves And the more we Practise it the more we shall discern the kind agreeable nature of it because the Prejudices of contrary opinions and desires will wear away the Soul will be more and more Awakned into a sense of its own life and by degrees recover a beautiful habit a sound vivacious constitution Perfect content and Peace is therefore the necessary effect of Loving the Law of God because the right Opinions the true Relishes the proper Exercises of the Soul are the same which the Law it self commands There is a Sympathy an affinity between the Mind and Vertue Whosoever therefore are under the power of Godlike dispositions are eo nomine in a full Possession of Pleasure Ease and Peace That is the First Secondly Content or Peace of mind proceeds from a prudent Government of our selves and our affairs under all circumstances from a Judicious prosecution of Good from a dexterous eschewing of Evil and from a ready application of reasons or means of peace to our selves in all Events But the Law of God is contrived with such respect to the Happiness of men that those who are under its Power and Conduct are throughly instructed in all the arts of a wise procedure And First in the most Effectual methods of Acquiring good and Diverting evil And Secondly in such Dispositions of mind and principles of Reason that none of the passions or accidents of life shall Deject our mind or Destroy our peace First It instructs us in the most Effectual methods of acquiring good and diverting evil The destruction of most men is from themselves Either our ends are out of our reach or some way or other unsutable to us Or if we have Chosen well yet how many thousands miscarry in the Prosecution Either we are Vain and Presuming or Timerous and Dejected Debauched and Negligent or Rash and Violent Giddy and Inconstant or Conceited and Ungovernable Our own Temper our own pretended Wisedom are the Principal instruments of our vexation and disappointment But the Law of God is a lively and exact Image of an Vnderstanding infinitely Perfect Those therefore whose minds whose wills and actions are informed and governed by it partake in a proper sense of the Wisedom of God himself and are moved in some sort by the vigour and activity of a Perfect Mind Hence Solomon represents Religion speaking of it selt Wise counsel is mine and sound wisedom I have understanding I have strength Pro. 11.3 For Vertue disciplines and subjects the body stills the passions files off the chains and removes the weights which depress and sink the soul into a sluggish unactive State and restores it to a Free and ingenuous exercise of its own life and being And thus redeemed from the dominion of passion from the power and impulse of the lower Spirit our Apprehensions of things will be distinct and clear our Inward Sense will be true and quick our Judgment masterly and comprehensive directing our faculties and instruments of action with an assured Light In a word whosoever is under the Power of the Law of God will improve in his knowledge he will be prudent in the choise of his ends Sparing of his Affections Master of his Passions advised in his proceedings Resolute in difficulties Seasonable in his applications Vigorous in his Executions and always present to Himself And thus his decrees shall be established and the light shall shine upon his ways Job 22.28 It would be tedious to state particular cases and show how this Principle of Love to the Law of God would act and show it self in laying the Design disposing the instruments foreseeing the difficulties and finally compassing the End it is enough that the Law is

still but a Man This new Principle doth not act him by violence and Necessity but in a way that is sutable to a Free Agent He still remains Obnoxious to Frowardness and Inadvertency to Mistakes and Infirmities to Temptations Scruples Dejection Melancholy and many other Habits which hinder the free Emanation and efficacies of the Principle But notwithstanding all this if the Subject be Judicious and Inquisitive Watchful and Industrious in a word if he make it his business he will quickly discern his advantages and be able to draw out the Vertues of the root and in time his mind will be at Perfect ease and remain Impregnable against all the Assaults of Evil. As for that part of the Peace of a good man which is Communicated to the Soul immediately by God himself we are indeed more Passive in that than in the other Yet even this requires a Sutable Disposition in the Patient besides the sincerity of his Love For as our temper may be it may exalt us above what is meet Cherish Conceit Nourish Vanity and Divert our minds from the duties of our place to a continual expectation of Extatick Joy It is therefore governed by the Infinite Wisedom of God and dispensed according as our Temper will bear it and our needs require it Times of great temptation doubtful conflicts prevailing fears dejection and despondence are proper seasons for an Encouraging Manifestation of the Glory and Love of God And it is no disparagement to the Doctrine of my Text that Infinite Wisedom should dispense that part of our Peace which is properly a Reward as our Temper will bear it and our Needs require it And thus the Principle may contain a Full and Uninterrupted Peace within it self though its Vertue through accidental Impediments should not always and alike refresh the Subject Yet nevertheless whosoever truly Loves the Law of God is Habitually pleased and easie Every good man hath a disposition to Perfection an Interest in the Love of God and the joys of Heaven Suppose him then a person of the weakest understanding yet he finds the pleasure of an equal life and knows how to resign himself to Almighty Goodness He has a well grounded hope that God is pleased with him that his Enemies are Conquered that he hath a title to great Treasures ●●er in 〈◊〉 Car. which will give him such a peace and satisfaction that he shall never Repent his Choise In a word our Joy and Peace are commonly proportioned to the Strength of our Love the Abilities of our mind the Temper of our Soul and the Wisedom of God and he that desires more is a stranger to the Wise oeconomy of the World the Nature of man and the General Reason of things Applic. And now I could wish with the Phylosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●oc de ●ace That it were as easieto perswade to the Practice of Vertue as it is to Commend it The proportion is as true as our Faculties and the Motive is the Strongest that can be offered to the minds of men It takes away the great Objection against Religion that it Restrains our liberty and contradicts our inclinations that it is a Force and Violence to our nature and disposition It is true indeed so long as we are under the Power of vicious Habits we can see no Loveliness in the Law of God nothing but Labour and self-denyal Such a Through Change in body soul and spirit as the Law requires cannot be accomplished without a mighty Resolution and Unwearied Diligence But if we are in Earnest our reluctance and aversation will wear away It is the property of Religion that it makes us New creatures and gives us another Spirit another Taste and Rellish of things Nothing therefore but Wretched Cowardise or stupid Incredulity can hinder the effects of this discourse What cutting and lancing are we content to endure for the preservation of the body What dangers so great that we do not Court for the advancement of our name and fortune The hopes of glory and reward make the Difficulties of an enterprize to men that are Brave the most cheerful Circumstance They that would be great must not content themselves with Common Actions but they must atchieve such things as shall demonstrate their Wisedom Resolution and Conduct It is true it is impossible for a vicious man to Comprehend the inward sense of this discourse in every point An Orator commending the Sweetness of a Rose may affect our Fancy but he can never touch our Nerves with the Very Fragrancy it self Without Vertue the Pleasures of Vertue are impossible to be Discerned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hier. au Car. There is no Proportion between the Object and the Faculty But in this as in other Cases we ought to be moved by the Probability of the Thing and the Reports of Credible and Experienced persons who with one consent assure us that whosoever enters into the School of wisedom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall be sure to return with the Advantages of Peace and Happiness 〈◊〉 Epict. ●●nch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If you do not believe it Try as Arrianus speakes In a word to study the Law of God till we like and love it is to Proceed upon the best Reason to Follow the steps of the Wisest men to pursue a Real good to Advise with infinite Wisedom and to Strengthen our selves with the best supports These are the men that are never Amazed Surprized or Vanquisht that can bear up boldly to a Storm and Sail securely before the Wind. These are the only men that are fit to live amongst Contingencies that can make the best of all Events and be happy in all conditions till at last our Souls shall return to God that gave them our Victories shall be Crowned with Glory our Faith shall be perfected in Vision our Hope in Enjoyment and our Peace Consummate in the Full and Everlasting Joys of Heaven FINIS