Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	faith_n	holy_a	receive_v	7,630	5	5.5906	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B09949	The tree known by its fruits. Or A relation of the sufferings of Oliver Sansom of Boxford, in the county of Barkes, eagerly inflicted upon him through the means of, and by James Anderton priest of Boxford: Whereby it may appear to all people in the parish of Boxford, and elsewhere, where this shall come, who may with moderation peruse it; whether James Anderton do indeed walk in the way of the ministers of Christ, or in the very exact footsteps of the false prophets and deceivers, for hereby is he manifest, if it be lawfull to try him, and judge according to the rule of our saviour Jesus Christ, who hath said unto us, By their fruits ye shall know them, Mat. 7. 15, 16, &c.	Sansom, Oliver, 1636-1710.	1667 (1667)	Wing S686; ESTC R483576	23,631	75

Oh who can stand before him when he is Angry what Stubble can resist such a Consuming Fire This and more to the same purpose he spake with so deep a Concern the Tears trickling all the while down his Cheeks that no Body in the Room could refrain Weeping which he perceiving said And can ye Weep at the image and bare relation of the effects of Gods Wrath what then do you think I suffer who actually lie under the very weight of his Fury Refrain your Tears for me 't is in vain Pity is no Debt to me nothing is so proper for me as some Course to compleat my Misery and free me from the Torments of my Expectation Here he paus'd a little when looking towards the Fire he said Oh that I was to lie and broil upon that Fire for a Hundred Thousand Years to purchase the Favour of God and be Reconciled to him again But 't is a fruitless vain Wish Millions of Millions of Years will bring me no nearer the ends of my Tortures than one Poor Hour O Eternity Eternity who can discover the Abyss of Eternity who can properly Paraphrase upon the Words for Ever and Ever I could not forbear reflecting on that passage of broiling upon the Fire a Hundred Thousand Years to purchase the Favour of God and be again Reconciled to him how unproportionable was this Poor Man's Concern to that of the Common Practice of the World a great part of which will allow no time in Days Weeks Years to seek the Face and Favour of God And amongst those that pretend to Religion How cooly and indifferently do they spend that time they set apart for Private or Publick Devotion Were they sensible but for one Minute of what this Wretched Person endured what a Spur would it be to their Devotion and how careful would they be to make their Calling and Election sure how fearful lest having a Promise made them of entring into Rest any of them should fall short through unbelief and so be frustrated of their share and hopes of that Glory which is to be revealed It began to grow late so I took my leave of him for that Night promising to renew my Visit if it pleased God the next Day when I found him still in the same Condition as to his Mind but his Body was much weakned by his continual Sweats caused by the Agonies he lay under I found Three or Four Divines with him who had been at Prayer which they told me had the same uneasie effect upon him as when I Prayed with him the Night before One of the Divines desired him to consider the Example of St. Peter who had denied his Master with Oaths and Curses and yet was received again into his Favour To which he reply'd officiously against himself as he had done all the Day before 'T is true St. Peter did deny his Master as I have done but what then his Master had Prayed for him that his Faith should not fail and being willing that he should Repent he look'd him into a Repentance and assisted him by his Holy Spirit to perfect it now if Christ would assist me to Repent I should do so too but he hath justly withdrawn his Intercessions from me I have so often Crucified him a fresh and put him to open shame so often grieved that Holy Spirit that God has taken it away from me and in the room thereof has left me the Spirit of Impenitence and Reprobation and given me a certain Earnest of a fearful Inheritance in another Life He spake little more that Day for a deal of Company pressing in it became troublesome to him and towards Night Orders were taken for the avoiding such an Inconvenience There were four more Divines in the Room besides at six a Clock we all look'd upon one another not knowing what course to take no Text being offered in his favour but what he readily turned another way whilst we were thus Musing he Cryed out in a vehement affecting Passion How long oh Lord shall thy Wrath burn for ever against me shall thy Eternal Justice for ever exact upon a poor despicable Worm What is my Value or Worth that thou shouldst pour out full Vials of Wrath upon me Oh that thou wouldst let go thy Hand for ever forget me and let me fall into my first nothingness again as my Righteousness could have profited thee nothing so my Impieties have done thee no hurt therefore Annihilate me and let me Perish to nothing be not Angate with me that I thus Expostulate with thee 't will be but a little time but thy Wrath will force the Dreadfullest Blasphemies from me except thou prevent them Oh that thou wouldst take away my Being and my Misery neither of them can add to or diminish from thy Happiness therefore let them both cease and let my Name be known no more or if I must still be and be Immortal and thou wilt Punish me because I have Despised thee let it suffice to be a Privation of thy Self and let me pass my Eternity in a Dream without ever being awakned by the pangs of Torment without ever being disturbed by the Gnawing of the Worm that Dies not But Oh what fruitless Desires are these for I am Expostulating with a God that has closed his Ears and will not hear with a God that has for ever shut out my Prayers and only protracts my Breath a little longer to be an Example unto others Oh ye Rocks and Mountains that ye would hide me from the presence of an Incensed God! But there 's no flying from his presence what he has begun he will finish he will extend his Wrath against me for ever and ever Here some Body knocked at the Door and it proved to be a Penny-Post-Man with a Letter to this Gentleman which being told him How says he a Letter for me A little longer and I expect another sort of a Messenger I am added he very quickly to give up my Accounts of every secret Action that I have done and I have a mind to make an Experiment of something of the same Nature to see how I can bear it and looking about the Room he espy'd me pray Sir said he do me the favour as to open and read this Letter the Contents I know not but I suspect it to come from some of my old Acquaintance I desired to be excused alledging that possibly there might be something in it that might be improper to divulge Nothing nothing reply'd he can affect me now I have no Honour no Reputation and what 's yet worse no Heaven to lose by this or any other Act therefore pray Sir oblige me or I must trouble some Body else Upon this I broke open the Letter designing first to take a Cursory View of it and then to proceed or desist according as I found the Contents which upon perusal I thought not impertinent to the present Case and therefore Read as follows Dearest Sir UNderstanding you

are fallen dangerously ill and that it had a Melancholy Effect upon you I could not considering our stricter Friendship but endeavour at least the removal of those Evils your Mind may lie under which perhaps is an Office no less grateful than making your Body Sound and Vigorous Sickness and Death are the common Lot of Mankind and to Repine and Grieve at the bearing of this Lot is to Combat the Laws of Nature and Fight against Impossibilities what Wise Man Repines at the Heat in Summer or Cold in Winter or troubles himself that the Sun ever goes out of our Hemisphere all the Night-time a common Evil that every Body bears ceases to be an Evil because there 's no one has a better Fortune to compare with it and without comparison nothing can be said to be better or worse thus also a Good made common Palls into Indifferency from the same Reasons But perhaps your Melancholy suggests unto you that 't is a dismal thing to Launch out into an unknown Abyss to be you know not where nor what I Answer I dream sometimes of frightful things and the Idea's that I have of them impress as afflicting Resentments upon my Spirits as if they were real but when I awake all vanishes Thus if we will examine Death and its supposed Consequences by the Prejudices of a Melancholy and Distracted Brain we may be Miserable proportionable to the heighth of our Folly but if by our Reason we take a View of these Formidable Monsters they grow tame and familiar to us I would demand of him that asks me What Estate I shall be in after Death What Estate he was in before Life Pain and Pleasure will leave their Impressions upon a Human Spirit 't is as natural as Wax to receive the Impression of that Seal by which it is Sealed Therefore if I was either Happy or Miserable before I commenced Humanity I must still reatin some Impression of it but I now do neither therefore shall do neither hereafter I came out of a State of Nothingness and shall return into the same again as the Flame of an extinguished Candle dissolves and loseth it self in the Circumambient Air even so the Taper of Life vanishes into pure Aether and is no more when the Laws of the Vnion of the Soul and Body are violated and broken Death it self is nothing and after Death there 's nothing and why should I be afraid of nothing Take Courage Man and either Die like your self Master of your Fate and Happiness so long as it is to be kept or Recover and Live Worthy the Character of a Person that knows how either to Live or Die So wishes Your real Friend and Servant A. B. I had no sooner read this Letter through but he surpriz'd us all with repeated dismal Groans as if his Soul had been strugling under the last Throws of Separation We thought it not convenient to press for the Reason of it considering that Human Nature feels or at least supposes an Ease by complaining of the Evil it suffers and it happened according to our Expectations for at length he broke out into these afflicting Imprecations Cursed be the Day wherein I commenced such a fatal Friendship Oh unhappy Time when first I imbib'd these Atheistical Principles When first I exchanged the Christian Faith for the Creed of Spinoza and the Leviathan When first I relinquish'd all reveal'd Religion for the natural one and the last for none at all When casting his Eyes upon me he said I am not able to write an Answer to that Letter though I earnestly desire there should be one nor is it worth my while to get an Emanuensis for that purpose for I suppose I shall have no occasion to write any more I 'm also sensible that you might be better able to answer such a Letter than I and yet my present Circumstances are such I being not only a Party but the dismal subject a Matter my self that what comes from me may make a deeper impression upon the Spirit of my Friend than what comes from a strange Hand therefore you will oblige me if you will only lend me your Hand and let me dictate which I freely offering he ordered a Chair to be set on the other Side of the Bed thinking it convenient to be as secret and free from Noise and Diversion as possibly he could And then he proceeded SIR BEing not able to use my own I have borrowed another Hand to answer yours possibly I may subscribe my self You say well It s a gratefuller Office to endeavour to remove the Evils of the Mind than of the Body What you urge of the common Lot of Mankind as Death and Sickness I could wish it were my Case but mine alas is a discovery that I pay dearly for viz. That Despair and Hell is the common lot of Atheists Now your Arguments cannot reach my Case unless you first prove that Atheism is as inevitable as Death and Sickness and that therefore the effects of it are to be born patiently unless a Man will combat Necessity and fight against the Laws of Fate Your way of arguing is such as I have us'd my self formerly and I cannot but wonder now bow I could think it conclusive Perhaps I never indeed thought of that but was pleased with it because I wish'd it to be true and because I saw it my Interest that it should be so If you please I 'll just make a Reflection or two upon what you have writ and then give you my Sentiments of the whole matter You say That if we examine Death and its supposed Consequences by our Reason those formidable Monsters grow tame and familiar If by our Reason you mean either the peculiar Creed of Atheists or the common Reason of Human Nature I am sure those Monsters will be less tame and familiar the more you think of them for since no Reason discovers what an unexperienc'd death is or the unknown change consequent thereupon how can we judg of things that we know not Reason as long as you please upon things that you are ignorant of and at last you will be as far from Truth and Satisfaction if not farther than when you first began like him that demanded a considerable Time to tell what God was and when that was expired he demanded yet a greater and being ask'd why he did so he replyed the more he thought the less he knew of him It might have been retorted on him though the same History gives no account of it Why then did he petition for means of greater Ignorance and Confusion Your Argument is extream weak about a pre-existent and future State viz. I retain no impression of Happiness or Misery that I had in a pre-existent State therefore shall retain none in a future State How that 's a consequence in any Rules of Logick I see not Next you would have me believe upon your bare Word That Death is nothing and that after Death there