Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	death_n	jesus_n	sin_n	7,149	5	4.5195	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41192	A view of an ecclesiastick in his socks & buskins, or, A just reprimand given to Mr. Alsop, for his foppish, pedantick, detractive and petulant way of writing	Ferguson, Robert, d. 1714.	1698 (1698)	Wing F764; ESTC R476	85,805	132

and adapted to do more hurt by the Temptations and Encouragements which it Administers to render people Prophane than on the supposition that the Writer were in the right in every thing that is Doctrinal all his Arguments can do good by the making and preserving men Orthodox Seeing such are the Frame and Complexion of the Minds and Spirits of the Generality that Practice and Example are more Observed and have a greater Influence upon them than bare Teaching and Instructions usually have In that there is no advantage thought to be gained by Hypocrisy in the former Whereas it may be Imagined Subservient in the latter to several peculiar Ends. And of all People Ministers of the Gospel are most liable to be Judged by that Criterion both in reference to the reality of their own Religion and as to the Opinion which they have of all Religion in general and to have it concluded from their Manners what their Inward Belief is Nor will they be held perswaded of the Being of a God or World to come the Tenor of whose Practice is such as if there were not Neither will the Preaching up of Sincerity Meekness and Charity be otherwise Esteemed than as Grimace and Pageantry while Falshood Malice Petulancy and Defamation are the whole of what is to be seen in the Morals of him that Preacheth Whence it is Both commonly and reasonably said that tho the Speculative Atheist be a Fool considering the many Convincing Means he is furnished with both within and without him in himself and whatsoever doth surround him to ascertain him of a Deity yet the Practical one is of the two pronounced to be the greatest Knave in that the latter dispiseth and affronts God while the former doth only deny him Nor can any thing be more fatally mischievous both to the Personal and Publick Ends of Religion than for those whose Office it is to inform the Minds and the Consciences and to govern the Lives of Men by the Truth and Principles of it to set them a Pattern in and by their own Practice importing that the whole which they deliver unto and press upon others they do themselves believe to be Fable and Romance But the damage of this kind done to Religion by Mr. Alsop's way of managing the Doctrinal Controversies of it being so obvious to all who will give themselves Liberty to think is therefore neither the only nor the principal Topick by and upon which I would reprimand him in reference to this matter That then wherewith I would charge and for which I would rebuke and chastise him is that in the whole Frame and Texture of his late Writings he must either thro' Malice directly design or thro Folly and Distraction occasion and promote Schism and Division among Dissenters and give Ground not only for alienation but for Bitterness of Spirit in one Party against the other The whole Tendency of what he hath published in the two Books which he hath lately emitted being not only to separate and divide the Dissenters into two distinct Parties which they already are but to Marshal and Rendevouze them into opposite Factions in order either to make both of them a Prey to such as may have a Mind to overthrow the Liberty which is at present granted and indulged them or at least to crush and subvert the Freedom of those among them that cannot come into the Terms of a Comprehension with the Dignitaries and Pastors of the Di●cesan and establish'd Form And if I durst define and conclude the Inclinations of the whole Presbyterian Body by the Overt-acts of Mr. Alsop and Mr. Williams I should be tempted to say that they of the Congregational Way were not only to have the Liberty vouchsafed them by Law withdrawn and the Act repealed but that they were to be made obnoxious to some new and penal Statute Seeing were they guilty of the Antinomian Notions they are charged with not only of Emasculating and Corrupting the whole Gospel and of turning it into a Lampoon upon the Righteousness Wisdom Holiness and Veracity of God but of perverting it into a Scandal and Reproach of our Redeemer thro' the Licentiousness which Antinomian Tenets give mental Biaz as well as Doctrinal Countenance unto they would be so far from deserving the Benefit of a Statute of Indulgence and Liberty that they ought to fall under the Severest Restraints of Law as those who Travestie the whole Christian Religion and pervert it into a Scheme that justifieth Immorality and Ungodliness For tho' I neither will nor dare pronounce of those who thro' Weakness of Thought Pre-possessions by Education or the Unhappiness of Acquaintance have imbib'd those Principles that they are practically wicked yet I will be bold to say that their Virtue and Piety are not so much to be resolv'd into the Light and Efficacy of their Principles as into the Mechanical Fabrick of their Bodies upon which both the Grave Reserv'd and Sober Temper of their Minds and the want of Incitement Food and Aliment to Scandalous Transgressions in their Lives do very much depend or rather into the Efficacious Renewing and Sanctifying Grace of God which to Souls that are sincere and upright in their Intentions tho' mistaken in their Opinions giveth a victorious Prevalency over the Errors of the Understanding as well as over the Lusts of the Heart the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus administring a Redemption in both from the Law of Sin and Death But it is the Happiness of you Reverend Pastors and Elders of the Congregational Way that you do not only at present live under a King who hath more Temper as well as Wisdom than to hearken to two very mean and indifferent Predicants and who upon all other Accounts save the overvaluing themselves are much less Men than they are Preachers that would upon the Ruins of the Reputation Learning and Piety of their Brethren advance themselves into two Dictatorial and Patriarchal Seats over the Body of Dissenters but that you are under the Care and Protection of a National Senate who upon preceding Specimens know by what Rules of Humanity Equity or Justice not to say of Christianity the Bigots of that Faction do govern themselves I do freely acknowledge that there is no Man of more Latitude as to Principles and Measures of Charity good Nature and Civil Manners than I desire to be yet I can no ways allow that Religion should be made a Cloak to cover Passions and Angry Resentments or turn'd into an Engine and Tool whereby to support carry on and justifie Passion and Revenge For when I judge of Persons and Things with the greatest Impartiality and Temperance I cannot but reckon that all the unjust Accusations and Calumnies which one Writer fastneth upon another must not only serve to afford Diversion and Sport to the Prophane and yield Matter of Contempt for all Religion to the Atheistical but that they will give Offence and Scandal not only to the Pious