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
A94158	The gods are men: or The mortality of persons in places of magistracy. As it was explained and applied in a sermon preached at the assize holden at Hertford for that county on March 15. 1656/7. By George Swinnocke M.A. last Fellow of Bailiol Colledge in Oxford, and now preacher of the gospel at Rickmersworth in Hertfordshire.	Swinnock, George, 1627-1673.	1657 (1657)	Wing S6276; Thomason E919_1; ESTC R207499	42,242	46

death Magistrates have natural strength as they are men but death trippeth up the heels and layeth on their backs the most strong and valiant t Job 21.23 24. Plato saith that Marrow is not only the sourse of generation but the seat of life One dyeth in his full strength being wholly at ease and quiet His breasts are full of milk and his bones are moistned with marrow Put the case that a man be in the z●nith and height of his estate when his health is most pure and his strength is most perfect when he hath the choicest complexion in his face and soundest constitution in his body when there is most agility in his joynts and most appetite in his stomach yet even then sickness arresteth him at the suit of death haleth his body to the prison of the grave and sendeth his soul to his own place Man at his best estate yea u Psal 39.5 surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity 2. Riches cannot Luke 16.22 Secondly as the strength so the wealth of Magistrates is insufficient The holy Ghost telleth us that the ●i●h man also dyed Men may put riches into the grave with them The Irish have a Proverb What aileth a rich man to die but they will not keep them one moment out of the grave Death like jealousie will not regard any ransome not be content though men would give many gifts Job speaketh supposing that he had dyed Then I had been at rest with Princes that had Gold and filled their houses with Silver It s reported of Cardinal Beauford that when on his death-bed he should say Fie will not death be hired will Money doe nothing if the whole Realm would save my life I am able either by wealth to buy it or by wit to procure it but it could not help him die he did Money is the Monarch of this World but not of the next it can neither stave off sickness nor buy out death 3. Honours cannot Thirdly as neither strength nor wealth so neither can the honours of men help them against this last enemy How have the highest men on Earth been laid as low as the Earth by it Man in honour doth not abide Psal 49.12 His duration is sometimes the lesse because his reputation is so great Job speaketh excellently Where is the dwelling place of Princes who shall declare his way to his face Job 21.28.31 This person is so high that none dareth tell him of his wicked practices Luther compla●neth that in his time Magistra●es Elati superbia volebant esse ipso verbo superiores Kings saith one have Clouds in their brows as well as Crowns on their heads they would be adored like gods and not reproved like men Yet these men which are so high that none must speak to them death will be sure to speak with them Yet he shall be brought to the grave and remain among the Tombes Job 21.32 There is much weight in that word Yet i. e. though he be a Prince so proud that he scorneth to hear mens reproofs yet he shall be forced to listen to death's language though his dwelling place was stately amongst men yet he shall be brought to an homely one amongst Worms Yet he shall be brought to his grave and remain amongst the Tombes When Michael Paleologus Emperour of Constantinople sent for a present to Nugas the Scythian Prince certain royal Robes and rich Ornaments he set light by them saying Nunquid calamitates morbos aut mortem depellere possent It was a notable speech of the King of Persia who visiting Constantine at Rome was shewn the rare Edifices rich Coffers and great Honours of the Emperour Mira quidem haec sed video ut in Persia sic Romae hommes moriuntur If Magistrates are mortal 2. Vse by way of Inference of the Magistrates folly how much folly is in him that laboureth most for his body The truth is there is a secret conceit in the hearts of great persons who have the World at will that they shall not die it is not vox oris but it is vox cordis they still think of a longer life though they have lived never so long they can see death in other mens brows but not in their own bosomes w Psal 49.11 How many be too like that Duke d'Alva who b●ing asked whether he had observed a late eclipse of the sun answered That he had so much business to doe on earth that he he had no time to look up to Heaven so they spend so much time on their dyi●g bodies that they can spare none for their never dying souls Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places to all generations Hence it commeth to passe that they work altogether for this world so they have Earth in their hands they care not though they have nothing of Heaven in their hearts Their endeavour is to live in the favour of great men and not to die in the feare of the great God How many great Persons spend their time as Seneca speaketh inter pectinem speculum occupati between the Comb and the Glasse and not between Scripture and Prayer their labour is to go finely to fare deliciously to live honourably to prosper outwardly but not to honour God fruitfully to discharge that trust which is committed to them faithfully or to work out their own Salvation diligently There is a story of a fat man riding through Rome on a lean horse it was demanded how it came to passe that he being so exceeding fat his horse was so lean he answereth Ego meipsum stabularius equum curat I mind my self but my Groom looketh after my Horse Too many God knoweth have fat bodies and lean souls their outward man is flourishing their inward man is perishing and the reason is they themselves regard their bodies but they say they trust God or more truly the Divel with their souls Prince Absalon is a fit resemblance of such persons whilst he lived he provided somewhat against the time he must die But what doth he provide only a place for his body to rest in The Spirit of God takes special notice how provident this ambitious youngster was for his body 2 Sam. 18.18 Now Absalon in his life time had reared up for himself a Pillar But he never thinketh of his precious soul where that might rest when it left his body How foolish and faulty are many Magistrates in this particular whilst they live they take special care that when they die their bodies be in such a vault interred with such a company of mourners attended that such a Monument be e●ected but take no care that when their bodies go to the house appointed for all the living their souls might go to that house which is not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens They little consider that when their Friends are weeping over

a mound of Earth The consideration that ye shall be turned into Earth should dead the Cannons of temptation which Satan shoots against yoir souls 1 Pet. 2.11 Plut. As pilgrims and strangers abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul Lycurgus made the first law that the dead should be buried about the temples intimating thereby that they which are dying should be very religious Nihil facit mortem malam nisi malum quod praecedit vel sequitur Nothing maketh death evil but the evil that goeth before it for without that no evil could follow after it I have read of one that gave a Ring with a deaths head to a young Ruffan upon this condition that he should meditate on it one hour every day for seven days together which he did and through the help of God it wrought a blessed change in him Take a turn or two daily in Golgotha walk often among the Tombs ponder frequently your own frailty it may much quicken you to walk exemplarily Your high places call for holy practices It s esteemed one of King Alphonsus his sayings That a great man cannot commit a little sin I must tell you As Cesar said That Cesar's wife should be without all suspition of fault ye have many following you either to Heaven or Hell in the narrow or broad way ye had need to choose a right path Great mens vices are as seldom unaccompanied as their persons Dives was a great man and a bad pattern and he had many brethren following him to the place of torment Vivitur exemplis potius quàm legibus M●n are led more by the eye then by the ear and follow rather the doings of Magistrates then the sayings of Ministers * Claudian Componitur orbis Regis ad exemplum nec sit inflectere sensus Humanos edicta valent quàm vita regeniûm Sin indeed commeth in at first by propagation Many say to such as Tiberius to Justinus Si tu volueris ego sum Si tu non vis ego non sum but is much encreased by imitation Ye are the heads of the people Numb 7.2 Mich. 3.11 If the head be giddy the body must needs reel Ill humours from the head destroy and consume the vitals in the body Isa 49.23 Ye are the Nurses of the people and our Naturalists observe that what disease Nursts have the Children will partake of Josh 24.15 It is a great praise that Melancthon ascribeth to George Prince of Anhalt His Bed-chamber saith he was Academia curia tenplum And Xenophon of Cyrus that a man might winke and choose among his Courtiers he could not misse of a good man 3. Walk humbly with God Now how will it gall your consciences when ye come to die if ye have been ringleaders in iniquity and not patterns of piety believe it ringleaders in a rebellion will be most severely punished and with those whom ye have made wicked without repentance ye will be made eternally woful Take up the practice of dying Joshua who was going the way of all the Earth I and my house will serve the Lord. Theodosius the Emperour being asked how a Prince might promote good abroad answered By ordering all well at home If ye cannot rule your family well ye are unfit to rule Cities and Counties Let me request you to follow David's pattern I will walk in the midst of my house with a perfect heart until thou come unto me Psal 101.2 or O when wilt thou come unto me lest when ye come to die ye have cause to cry out as she did They made me keeper of others vineyards but mine own vineyard have I not kept Cant. 1.6 Thirdly As your frailty calleth upon you to be faithful in your places holy in your practices so likewise in the third place to walk humbly with God I would have others to have high thoughts of you because Ye are gods but I desire you to have low thoughts of your selves because ye must die like men A Magistrate should be like a star or spire-steeple the higher he is the lesser he should seem to be Pride as one observeth is the shirt of the soul put on first and put off last it is a weed that will grow in the best soil but men that are highest in place are usually highest in spirit It s rare to see a man great in others eyes and little in his own Honour is often the stinking breath of the vulgar which being blown into the bladder of a graceless heart causeth it to swell But here is a Pin in the Text to prick this bladder and take down its swelling Did you but spiritually consider the brittlenesse of your bodies it would abate the swelling of your spirits I should think the evil disposition of your souls and the frail condition of your bodies should keep you low while ye live Alas notwithstanding all your powers places or preferm nts what are ye but clods of clay a little refined earth moving slime enlivened dust breathing ashes Some Naturalists observe of Bees that when they rise and buz on high if you throw dust upon them they will house and be quiet When your thoughts are lifted up on high because of those places in which God hath set you I pray cast some dust on those thoughts rememember ye shall be laid as low as the worms are Abraham was a Prince a great man but how much did this thought humble him Gen. 18.27 Lo I have undertaken to speak unto the Lord who am but dust and ashes I have read of Agathecles King of Sicily that being a potters son he would be always served in earthen vessels to mind him of his original There was one Willigis B●shop of Ments who being son to a Wheelwright caused wheels to be hanged on the walls up and down his Pallace with these words written over them Willigis Willigis Recole unde veneris 4. Act zealously for God Some write of a Bird so light and feathery that it is forced to flie with a stone in its mouth lest the wind should carry it away The truth is men that are high in place are apt to be carried away with the wind of high mindednesse they had need therefore to have earth in their minds I mean their frailty and it may prove through the blessing of Heaven a singular preservative O that you who are Judges and Justices would but take the length of your bodies in the dust where ye must ere long lie and believe that a little dstemper will kill you a little sheet will wind you a little grave hold you little worms feed on you and a little time quite consume you could ye then be great in your own eyes Remember that your remembrance is like unto dust and your bodies are bodies of clay Job 13.12 Fourthly Must ye die and would ye prepare for it then be active for God whilst ye live the serious thoughts of death