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	matter_n	soul_n	5,644	5	5.5092	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A72208	A fruitful and Godly sermon containing necessary and profitable doctrine, for the reformation of our sinfull and wicked liues, but especially for the comfort of a troubled conscience in all distresses. By M. Richard Greenham pastor of Drayton.	Greenham, Richard.	1595 (1595)	STC 12319; ESTC S124961	28,758	90

as yet to be raised vp so the sugered consolations may for a while over heale the Conscience and abate some present griefe but so as afterward the smart may be the sorer the griefe may growe the greater Heereof ensueth this effect that comfort seemeth to cure for a while but for the wante of wisedome in the right discovering of the cause men minister one medicine for another and so for want of skill the latter fit grindeth them sorer than the former Some there are that without all precepts and practise will be their owne Phisitions and these so soone as the fitte commeth vpon them thinke it best to chastise chase away their sorrowe by drinking at Tavernes by minstrilsie in merry companies by purgeing melancholies in taking phisick all which may seeme to weare away the paines for a while but yet after it biteth more deeplie when the burning feaver of their spirites shaketh them with the second recourse and for that they were not before trulie searched purged seared and launced it comes to passe that the second relapse is the more dangerous To come to our purpose we must knowe that all griefes are either confused or distinct and sure it is that the mind is appalled either for some cause knowne to vs as certaine or for something vnknowne to vs and vncertaine to them which are troubled with such blinde griefes whereof they can see no reason As oft it hapneth to Gods children in secreet election who either neuer knowe God or else had but a generall knowledge of him I answere that as I deny not phisick to be ministred if in any parte it proceede of a naturall cause so I require the word especiallie to shewe the principall and originall cause to beginne in the soule I do the rather because I would haue wisedome both in the considering the state of the bodie if need so require and in looking chieflie to the soule which fewe thinke on If a man troubled in Conscience come to a Minister it may be he will look all to the soule and nothing to the bodie If he come to a Phisition he onlie considereth of the bodie and neglecteth the soule For my part I woulde neither haue the Phisitions counsell seuered nor the Ministers labour neglected because the soule and bodie dwelling together it is convenient that as the soule should be cured by the word by praier by fasting by threatning or by comforting so the body should be brought into some temperature by phisick by purging by dyet by restoring by musick and such other like meanes provided alwaies that it be done so in the feare of God and wisedome of his spirite as we think not by these ordinarie meanes to smother and smoke out our troble but as purposing to vse them as preparatiues wherby both our souls and bodies may be made more capable of the spirituall meanes to follow after As wee require these thinges to be the matters of our ministerie in such a perplexitie so we would wish the persons ministring to be men learned and of sound judgment wise and of godly experience meek and of most loving spirits for when the troubled patient shall be well perswaded of our knowledge discretion and therewithall shall perceiue vs to come in loving and tender affection I think an entrance is made and all prejudice taken away so as we may more freely worke vpon that conscience First bring them to the sight of sinne as to some cause of their trouble wherein we must labour to put away al confusion and blindnes of sorrowe by wisedome to bring the parties wounded to some certaine object and matter of their troble and so draw out of them the confession of some speciall secreet and severall sinnes I say secreete and severall sinnes because I knowe howe that many through a palpable blindenes or disordered discerning of sinne talke nothing so much as of sinne and yet either they cannot descrie severall sinnes or they will not be brought to acknowledge their secreet sins whereof the one proceedeth of the ignorance of the Lawe of God the other of selfe-loue which maketh vs loth even in our trauell of minde to shame our selues Now that confession of particular sins is requisite it may appeare by the 32. Psalme wherein being a Psalme of instruction concerning the forgiuenes of sinnes the Prophet by his owne experience teacheth vs that he could finde no reliefe of his sicknes vntill hee had remembred and made confession of his sinnes What shall we think of the Prophet of God which taught so wonderfully by the word and by the spirit and did not see his sins before be it far from vs rather let vs knowe that he had not severally and particularlie ripped vppe his sinnes before the Lord in a severall confessing of them which though the Lord knowes farre better than wee our selues yet such kind of sacrifice is more acceptable to him Nowe in this trouble the persons humbled cannot come to this particular sight of sinne in themselues It is good to vse the helpe of others to whome they may offer their hearts to bee gaged and searched and their liues to be examined more deeplie by hearing the several articles of the Law laid open before them whereby they may square the whole course of their actions For as we said before the grossest hypocrite will generally complaine of sinne and yet deale with them in particular pointes of the particular precepts and proue them in the applying of things to bee done or vndone to them to their owne conscience and we shall see many of these poore souls tossed to and fore nowe fleeting in joyes nowe plunged in sorrowes not able to distinguish one sin from another Now when we shall see the wound of the spirit to arise of any certaine and knowne sinne it is either for some sinne already committed wherein wee lie or else for some sin yet not committed but whereunto wee are tempted For the former it pleased God often to bring old sinnes to minde when we haue not throughly repented of them before so as it nowe representing them to vs a fresh we may fall into a more misliking of them and yet herein is not al to mislike our selues for some particulars although it bee good to be occupied about some speciall sin for as it is not sufficient for the avoiding of hypocrisie to see sin generally so it is not ynough to eschew the damnablenes of the heart ever to bee purring in every particular and to be forgetfull of the great and generall sins and lette vs learne by the particulars to passe to the generalls When any such one sinne doth pursue the rest not onely therein but say thus rather vnto thy selfe O Lord is this our sinne so grieuous and doth my God punish this one so sorely howe great should be my punishment if thou shouldest O Lord so deale with me for all my other sinnes Let vs labour to haue a sence both of particular and generall

their wittie devises and head-strong attemptes so as without hope of remedy they were hampered in pensiuenes and sorrow of mind then being not able to turne themselues vnder so heauy a burden they shrink down and by violent death would ridde themselues of that disquietnes and impatiencie of their troubled mindes But let vs come neerer and whether we behold the Papistes or the familie of Loue or the common sort of Christians we shal see they will passe quietly through many afflictions whether for that they haue a spirit of slumbering and numnesse cast on them whether because they haue branned themselues through som sensles blockishnes as men hewen out of hard oaks or grauen out of marble stones I knowe not but yet when the Lord shall let lose the cord of their conscience and shall set before their faces their sinnes committed see what fearfull ends they haue so whilest some of them by hanging themselues some by casting themselues into the water some by cutting their owne throates haue ridde themselues out of their intollerable griefes Now wherein is the difference that some die so sensleslie and some dispatch them so violentlie Surely the one feeling no sinne depart like brutish hoggs the other sure charged with sin depart like barking dogs But let vs come to the children of God who haue in some degrees felt this troble of minde and it will appeare both in the members and in the heade of all burthens to be a thing most intollerable to suffer a wounded conscience and to begin with let vs set in the first ranke Iob that man of God commended vnto vs by the holy Ghost for a mirrour of patience who although for his riches he was the welthiest man in the land of VZ and for his authoritie might haue made afraide a great multitude whose substance was the greatest of all the men of the East yet when the Sabeans came violently and tooke away all his cattell when the fyre of God from heauen burnt vp his sheep his servants when the Caldeans had taken away his Camels when a greate winde smote downe his house vpon his children although indeede he rent his garments which was not so much for impatiencie as to shewe that he was not vnsensible in these euills yet it is said that he worshipped blessed the name of the Lord saying Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne thither Howbeit beholde when at the strong conference of his comfortlesse friendes his minde began to be agasht which was not so in all his former tryall when his Conscience began to bee troubled when he sawe the Lord fasten in him sharp arrowes and to set him vp as a Butt to shoot at when he thought God caused him to possesse the sinnes of his youth this glorious patterne of patience could not beare his griefe he was heauie and so may commend to all the image of a wounded spirite that shall come after Dauid a man chosen according to the Lords owne heart Ezeckiah a pure worshipper of God and a carefull restorer of true Religion Ieremiah the Prophet of the Lord sanctified and ordained to that office before he was formed in his mothers wombe were rare and singular in the graces of God yet when they felt this wounde pearcing them with grief of hart they wer as Sparrows mourning as Cranes chattering as Pellicanes casting out fearful cries they thoght themselues as in the graue they wished to haue dwelt solitarie they were as bottels parched in the smoke they were as Doues mourning not able without sighes grones to vtter their wordes their hartes claue to the dust their tongues to the roofe of their mouth but aboue all if these were not sufficient to perswade vs in this doctrine there remaineth one example whome wee affirme to be the perfite annotomie of an afflicted mind that is the Lord and Saviour of vs all Christ Iesus the Image of the Father the heade of the bodie the mirrour of all graces the wisedome righteousnes holines and redemption of all Saints who sustained the crosse even from his youth vpwarde besides povertie basenes and hunger did willingly vndergo that great trouble of contempt and reproch and that among them where he should haue had a right deserued honour in respect of the doctrine that hee taught them and in regard of the manifold miracles wrought among them as the healing of the sicke the giuing sight to the blinde and restoring life to the dead this vnkindnes neverthelesse did not so much stick into him but at what time hee was set as a sacrifice for all when hee was to beare our infirmities and carie our sorrowes at what time hee was plagued smitten of God humbled and wounded for our transgressions when hee should be broken for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was vpon him then he cried out My soule is heauie euen vnto the death then hee praieth O Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me but how praied hee even with sweating howe sweated he even drops of blood how often praied he three times when ended his agonie not till hee was deade what said he being ready to depart My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee was this for his humane death as some haue imagined no wee wicked men haue died without complaint whose patience then might haue seemed to exceede his it was his suffering in his humane spirite which encountered with the wrath of God his God-heade suppressing it for a while hee suffered many torments in his bodie but much more heavilie did the wrath of God lie vpon his soule if this consideration of an afflicted spirite in these examples doth not sufficiently shew what a grieuous thing it is to suffer a wounded conscience let vs proceed with the comparing of this with other euils which falleth into the nature of man there is no sicknesse but phisick prouideth it a remedie there is no sore but Chirurgerie wil afforde a salue freindship helpeth povertie there is no impresonment but there is hope of libertie sute and favour recouereth a man from banishment authoritie and time weareth away reproch But what phisick cureth what chirurgerie salveth what riches ransome what countenance beareth out what authoritie asswageth what salue delayeth a troubled conscience All these banded togeather in league though they would conspyre a confederacie cannot help this our distres of a troubled or vnquyet mynde And yet this one comfort of a quyet mynd doth wonderfullie cure and comfortablie aswage all other griefes whatsoeuer For if our assistance wer as an host of armed souldiers if our friends were the Princes and all the governours of the earth if our possessions were as large as betwene the east and the west if our meat were as Manna from heaven if our apparell were as costelie as the Ephod of Aaron if euerie day were as glorious as the day of Christs resurrection yet our mindes beeing appalled with the