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	part_n	soul_n	20,019	5	5.7069	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63244	A sermon, preached in the cathedral church of Norwich before the Mayor and aldermen, upon the second of December 1697, being the publick thanksgiving, &c. / by Charles Trimnell ...	Trimnell, Charles, 1663-1723.	1697 (1697)	Wing T2281; ESTC R20780	9,157	28

look'd back upon but when it ends in such a Peace as we have attain'd A Peace that makes ample amends for what we have endured by the advantage it brings to our Civil and Sacred Concerns For this War is not ended as Wars too often are in our slavish subjection to some vile and imperious Sword but that Royal Hand which has led on our Arms and prevailed to our laying them down with Safety and Honour has been stretched out to maintain our Religion and Laws and by the help of God has defended them both Our Possessions now may be called our own a Wall of Defence is placed round about them and we may safely take our Pastime therein The sound of Alarms is no more in our Ears nor is our sleep broken by visions of fear but our Days are all quiet and our Nights are secure No restraints Iy upon us but what the wisdom of Laws directs us to choose and our very Liberty it self does require so that all the fair ways of thriving are open and we are free to do all the good that we would Had we felt more of the smart of this so many years War we shou'd not have needed any representations of other Men's making to give us a value of this blessing of Peace And I trust we shall not esteem it the less for God's having been pleased to bring it home to us before he had suffered the War to fall with all its force and terrour upon us Not but that the Fire has been often so near us and the apprehensions we have frequently had when things went against us must be still so fresh in our minds that we cannot choose but from our own observation form great Ideas of that Mercy for which we are called to offer our Thanks And these will still be enlarged as we our selves advance to consider the aspect it has in our sacred concerns By this our Religion is preserved to us uncorrupt and entire and we are not only maintain'd but encouraged in keeping up its publick profession Be it never so true what has often been said that no Man's Religion can be rifled from him that being a Treasure lock'd up there where no outward malice can come yet considering the weakness of Men the arts of the World and the wiles of the Devil how apt we are to grow sick of our Faith when troubles attend it and how forward the great Deceiver appears to suggest doubts in Belief when 't is hard to profess we must needs acknowledge it a singular mark of Gods tender compassion that he keeps off temptations from coming upon us and suffers us not to be brought into such fiery Tryals as these It cannot but make us think the better even of the Truth it self to see it protected and that Religion must invite our Obedience which so visibly has the succour of Heaven The Duties of it are matter of easier practice the freer we are from the cares of this World and the more removed we come to be from that Fear which has Torment in so much the better condition we are to receive the gentle impressions of Love An entire dependance on God and a joyful taking of all that he sends are pretty difficult Lessons when things frown upon us and we see nothing but Troubles about us But when he is pleased to turn again and refresh us new vigour arises and rejoycing in him becomes a natural work While our Thoughts are oppressed with the temporal dangers we find on every hand they have hardly leisure or spirit to look to what passes within Some it is to be hoped are brought to reflect on the state of their Souls from the hazard they find their Bodies are in but the care of most it is to be feared is limited there and the better part must have patience to stay till the worse is secure At best the service we pay in the midst of distress especially when it begins not till then is very imperfect and falls abundantly short of the Obedience we give when we have strength to resist And 't is quite another Oblation we make of our selves when we like our Condition over that we put up when we wish for a change We may possibly be accepted in this thro' the mercy of God but we are cheerful givers in that and such as he loves when we offer him all that we take pleasure in it is to be sure a greater sign of our Affection and Zeal than just flying to him at a time that we know not whether to go and we our selves have less comfort in this than the other where we are scarce able to keep up our hopes of being received while there we move with all the fullest assurance of Love There are many virtues no doubt to be shewn in the most wretched Estate and many occasions of Piety given us by those that wish ill to our Souls but a larger field of Obedience to be sure is opened by making us room enough to go at our ease and our outward Prosperity is a great invitation as well as a means to compleat our felicity in every respect Promoting the knowledge of God reforming the manners of Men and extending of Charity with all the train of Religious Works are things of great worth in themselves and esteem in the World and we account it none of the lightest mischiefs of War that it is a mighty hindrance to these How much then must it add to the advantage of Peace That by it we are put in a state of pursuing these glorious ends That we have leisure to look to our selves with such greater exactness as withal to regard the wellfare of others who cannot be forgotten but at our expence For it is when we want inclination or time to look to that which most nearly concerns us that we neglect those who have a right to be part of our care and will be remembred when we think of our selves God having most wisely disposed our several interests in so mutually depending a manner that for our own sakes we must be kind to our Brethren and therefore we cannot but think those Circumstances exceedingly happy that put us into so fair a Capacity of following up our common Concern And we are in the better posture for this thro' the extent of that Peace in which so many others partake the Comfort with us which is not only a great addition to the general joy but every ones particular Triumph is thereby advanced as that good fortune which affords us no more than a just satisfaction while we think of it with calmness at home is apt to transport us when we get abroad and come to see what effect it has upon the face of the World So natural is it for Joy as well as for Grief to swell up to a pitch from the number of those that make up the Train And there is great reason it should do so here where not only Religion and good nature perswade