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	nature_n	soul_n	16,493	5	5.5392	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97190	An essay on grief: with the causes and remedies of it	R. W.	1695 (1695)	Wing W91A; ESTC R232331	41,961	234

and we ought not especially to deny it to our Dearest Friends But besides if they had all that Sweetness of Temper that Candour Gentleness and Charity towards Others which usually make Men respected and admired here join'd with a true sense of Religion a just Demeanour to all the Truths and Promises of it and a sincere Obedience to its Laws and Precepts though mixt with the common Infirmities of Mortality we are in Duty oblig'd to think that they enjoy the Benefits and Rewards annext to their sincere and faithful Endeavours We may add to this that those earnest Desires which we find in our selves of enjoying them longer here seem to insinuate and whisper to us that they whose Conversations were so innocent and agreeable to us and made so great a part of our Happiness here can never fall short of that themselves in another Life which they always most passionately endeavour'd tho' in an inferior Degree to promote in this What is there then left for us to Grieve at Let us take an Estimate not of our Loss but their Gain And if we can't as yet be Happy let us content our selves with thinking that they are so Nor ought we so much to lament their being already taken from us as be thankful that we have enjoy'd them so long And besides that as our Grief can de-out selves no kindness so would it be very displeasing to them were they sensible of it or could receive any diminution in their Happiness by any thing that is done here below But besides tho' our Grief can be no Kindness or Satisfaction to them yet it is a great Dis-kindness to our selves For it does not only torment and disquiet us and make every thing of this Life unpleasant and distastful to us but also makes us unfit to regard our Concerns in order to the next For our Thoughts are then so vehemently taken up-with our Loss and our Reason so totally obscur'd by the Violence of our Passion that we are neither at liberty to recover the one nor command the other whereby to become sensible of our Duty and perform it according to that just Seriousness and Attention that is required of us But moreover Religion requires great Chearfulness and Alacrity in the performance of its Duties we are and thereupon also very much unqualified for the right Exercise of it whilst we suffer our selves to be carried away by a quite different disposition of Mind We ought therefore for our own Sakes so to moderate this almost ungovernable Passion especially if we let it get ground upon us that we may not fall short of the due Observance of our Religious Duties by indulging our Passions and Affections And certainly 't is one great Reason why when the one is injoyned the other is forbidden because they can't both consist together For I can neither be so sincerely Thankful for the protection of Providence over me for the time past nor beg its Care for the future if I am dissatisfied at any of its Dispensations or am unwilling to submit to any of its Corrections We ought therefore to endeavour by all means possible to subdae this Passion of Grief in us by considering in the Third and last place the dangerous Consequences that will unavoidably follow our too much giving way to it It impairs our Health and Constitution wasts our Strength obstructs the free motion of our Blood and Spirits and exhausts and impoverishes the whole frame of our Nature Nor is immoderate Grief only prejudicial to our Body but the evil Effects of it penetrate even to the very Soul it self For the Understanding becomes darkned and is not at liberty either to advise it self or hearken to the Counsel of others For it is so violently bent upon the Contemplation of an appearing Misery that it cannot pass a free and impartial Judgment upon it And in this case also the Will is generally so obstinate that it prevents the Operations and Exercise of Reason And where the Will is prejudiced 't is generally very difficult to rectify the Understanding For whatsoever I will or chuse as best for me my Understanding is apt to find some excuse or pretence to comply with it And whensoever the Understanding is thoroughly convinc'd of the agreeableness and innocence of any Action and the necessity of it so long as it continues under that Conviction the Will can hardly resists its Dictates For whatsoever it is that my Understanding proposes as best for me and if I do really believe it as such my Will can't help preferring the Choice of that before any thing besides And if the Action be really unlawful 't is as well the Fault of my Understanding as Will because every Action that I do has a present appearance of Good to perswade me to it which if it prove to be otherwise the Understanding as well as the Will is to answer for it Immoderate Grief is also prejudicial to our Reason by being a Blemish and Reproach to it What advantage would it be to us to search into the secrets of Nature to know the Qualities and Essences of Things to contemplate on the Perfections of the Celestial Beings and look even into Eternity it self To know what our Soul is and how it is endued with Reason the Image of God Himself to distinguish Good and Evil and to know that the One is to be avoided und the Other to be embraced and to enjoy innumerable other good Things which Rational Beings are alone capable of if after all we cannot make use of our Knowledge and noble Endowments to the suppressing the Miseries of Life and to the raising our selves above any of the Dangers which threaten us in this mortal State I mean the acquiring such a Superiority and Greatness of Mind as will keep us from falling under the Pressures of our Sufferings tho' it exempt us not from the sense of them What is it that gives us the the Advantage over the Beasts and Irrational Beings if we depend wholly upon things without us and have neither Courage or Constancy within to support us All our Gifts and Faculties would be in vain bestowed upon us if they could not exalt us above the Evils and Incoveniencies of Sense If we can find Antidotes against Poyson if we can make use of Industry to keep us from Poverty and if Reason can supply us with Preservatives against a great many other Evils why should we banish the Use of it when we have most occasion for it either to counsel or advise us against apparent Calamities or to support us under the present Anguish of our Griefs and Afflictions But in the next place Immoderate Grief is of a very dangerous Consequence as it is prejudicial to Religion For it not only slackens our Endeavours and puts a stop to our Practice of Vertue and Piety by taking the first and greatest possession of our Minds but also as was before observ'd brings a scandal upon our most Holy Profession as

Readiness that GOD Commands the Duty But although the Joys of the Mind are confessedly greater than those of the Body yet while they are thus united they must always partake together in the Enjoyment of an Object that 's Dear to them because their Joy can never be compleat or satisfying unless they both agree in the same Inclinations as is apparent in a great many sensual Delights which are attended with stings and gripes of Conscience because the Inward Dictates of Reason and Religion contradict them and whisper to us their unlawfulness so neither can they separate their common Sorrow for the loss of that which was an equal Satisfaction to Both. And hereupon it is that Joy and Sorrow are sometimes so very Affecting that there are several who have fainted and sunk away under Both. They are no better able to bear a sudden Surprize of Joy than they can moderate their Passions under an unlookt for Calamity Both over-power their Spirits and they prove too weak to bear up against them All which seem to concur in the Convincing us that the Soul is capable of Greater Joy and Sorrow than the Body is able to bear since this often faints away with an Excess of either and may also be of use to demonstrate to us that our Souls were designed for another State besides this since the Body in that Frame especially which it now is cannot come up to that Perfection which the Soul is endued with Thus have I shown what Grief is and wherein it consists I shall now search into the different Causes that produce it in the Minds of Men. And then I shall endeavour to offer some Preservatives and Helps against it whereby we may be able to regulate it prevent the Excesses of it and confine it within the limits of Reason and Religion If we take these for our Guides in all our Actions we shall be patient and content in all Conditions we shall neither ground our Hopes or Fears Joys or Sorrows on Uncertainties but shall at last find to our unspeakable Satisfactions that they will both conspire together in Leading us to the same End the Perfection of our Nature and the full and entire Possession of all Happiness But here it may be Objected that there are so many Miseries of Life such frequent and unthought of Dangers and Calamities which are continually thronging in upon us and which make this State uneasy and uncomfortable to us that it would be a Vain Attempt to think of Obtaining an absolute Conquest over them and preventing their being an Impediment to us in our Way to Happiness To this it may be answer'd That'tis our Weakness and Cowardice in resisting that makes these Enemies so formidable to us A vigorous Opposition would soon make them appear less Terrible The greatest Danger and Difficulty is in the first Encounter If we can withstand that Couragiously the Event must necessarily prove successful to us For all the Forces that these Enemies have are purely owing to our own Opinion and as that changes so will those disappear The Victory depends upon our own Will and Pleasure and if we have Resolution enough to Conquer we shall never want Force and Strength to do it And certainly that Happiness which this Victory will make us Masters of ought to engage us in the pursuit after it notwithstanding all the Dangers that may threaten us in the way to it Methinks a Comfortable and Contented Life such as every Reflection upon may create new Pleasure and Delight in us and at last a peaceable serene and chearful Death with a joyful Prospect of another Life is a Happiness that ought to be purchas'd at any Rate though at the first there may appear some Difficulties to encounter Miseries to undergo and Evils to suffer before we can arrive at the Possession of it But besides it may be Objected that there are some that never feel Miseries and have no Disappointmeents to grieve at and therefore Grief is not so General as we Imagine or at least the only Preservative against it is to follow the Examples of these Men who are never sensible of it To this I can only say That this Treatise was not designed for such For it would be a vain Endeavour to go about to perswade the Senceless Stupid and Unthinking that there is such a thing as Sorrow These know no Happiness beyond themselves their Thoughts are few and confin'd to a very narrow Compass They have no Joy or Sorrow but what some sudden and undesign'd change of Countenance draws from them and this perhaps without their own Knowledge or Observation To such as these it would be in vain to talk of Reason unless we could first make them understand what it is to-be Men. But if any One shall still urge that these are Happy I can only answer that Happiness would be a very mean Enjoyment if we should not be sensible of it For I think a rational Being can partake of no real Happiness but what by just and unprejudic'd Reason it finds to be so I suppose I may therefore pass on to shew the Causes of Grief and seek out wiser Methods for securing our selves against it than these Men take up with OF The CAUSES of GRIEF THe shortness of Man's Life in General as well as the Deaths of those who are most Dear to us is become the subject of our daily Complaint And yet was Man to live here for ever and be liable to the same Calamities Troubles and Vexations which even the Best of Men now labour under we should esteem it the Greatest of Miseries Every day brings some disquiet along with it and if we are so happy as to get rid of that we yet find still more Troubles that oppress us and a new succession of Grievances to complain of Every little Disappointment disturbs us and we can scarce get one minute of Ease before innumerable unthought of Calamities come thronging in upon us We can promise our selves Security in nothing that we Enjoy nor Certainty in any thing that we hope for When we imagine we are surrounded with nothing but the Comforts and Pleasures of Life a little Enlargment of Thought discovers to us that our Joys are not without a great mixture of Uneasiness We find our selves encompassed with Dangers and Disturbances which we must always be afraid of obnoxious to Infirmities which we can neither prevent nor redress subject to Wants which we cannot supply and liable to Fears which we are unable to provide against Jealousies Cares and Anxieties are the necessary Companions of all that we can here call our own Whilst we promise our selves an Age of Happiness in the fruition of something that is Dear to us the Fears that we find in our selves left we should be deprived of it will be often interrupting our Delights and so far prevail upon our Thoughts as to sink our Spirits and pall even our sweetest Pleasures in the very Enjoyment Had we nothing but