Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A41238
|
Sir George Sondes his plaine narrative to the vvorld, of all passages upon the death of his tvvo sonnes.
|
Feversham, George Sondes, Earl of, 1599-1677.
|
1655
(1655)
|
Wing F823B; ESTC R213731
|
40,869
|
42
|
at the Rent if he leave it to me but as good as it was when he took it I will take it againe Nay notwithstanding Corn is so cheap I give any Tenant I have liberty to leave his Farme and I will take it I never did or ever will force any Tenant to keep his Farme Neither in all this time hath any Tenant come to me to take his Farme again Some indeed I would have outed of their Farmes being none of the best Tenants but could not perswade them I never arrested or imprisoned any Tenant for his Rent nor willingly used any severe course if I could indifferently be satisfied any other way I have scarce demanded my Rents of late because of the cheapnesse of Corn but have made all the shifts I could to get money to serve my occasions and spared my Tenants that they might not be forced to put off their Corn at too mean rates If these be the signs of an hard Landlord then I am one There is one Ellen of Stausfield I heare hath complained of me for being so I will tell you the case and then you shall judge whether I deserve it or not Last Michaelmas was two yeare I let a Farme there to him of forty pounds a yeare At the end of the yeare I sent to him for his Rent his answer was that it went hard with him the first yeare being to buy all his stock and seasons therefore he desired me to have a little patience till he could make money of his Corne upon his desire I did forbeare him About halfe a yeare after I sent to him againe and then he said Corn was so low that he could make but little money of it Upon this I forbore him till the other year was up and he indebted to me two years rent and went my selfe to him and wisht him to leave the Farme if he sound he could doe no good upon it Hee desired to keep it hoping the times would mend and offered to make over his stock to me for my security this he did and continued in his Farme and at Lady day next promised to clear all About a month after the time I sent to him to fulfill his promise and was informed that he had sold all his Corne driven away his Stock and carryed all his Goods and was gone himselfe and had left me about twenty pounds worth of Corne on the ground to satisfie for three yeeres rent which was six score pounds so I was to be a loser one hundred pounds by him This is the truth and who now doe you think did the wrong Many of these hardnesses have I used to my Tenants and have been so served by them To the Charge of living unmarryed To that Charge of my being unmarryed and not living so chastly and vertuously as a Christian ought to doe I confesse that for almost these twenty yeeres I have lived unmarryed and I thank Heaven I have an healthy able Body and have naturall and carnall affections in me and a love to Women and their company and I think he deserves to be un-mann'd that hath not I confesse I have been more vain and foolish with them then I ought to have been Heaven forgive me But for committing Fornication or Adultery with any Single or Marryed woman I protest before Heaven though perhaps few may believe it I am clear from it I never had illegitimate issue nor ever had carnall knowledge of any woman save of my owne Wife nor of her but as was fitting for procreation seldome or never after I knew her to be with childe Neither was this abstinence in me from any frigidity or disability in Nature for my dispositions that way were I thinke as strong as most mens Neither was it for want of invites and opportunities to it of them I had enough Nothing restrained me but the fear of offending Heaven vox illa terribilis alwayes sounding in mine eares Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge This hath all along been the bridle to my unlawfull desires and I hope ever shall be To the Charge of neglecting Family duties To that of ordering my Family and duties thereto belonging I confesse it is an excellent thing when the Master can say I and my house doe and will serve the Lord But it is hard in a great and numerous Family to have all so well minded It is the Masters part to see them performe the outward duties of Gods service as Prayer and going to Church and to shew them the way by his own godly example this I was alwayes mindfull of frequenting the Church on the Lords day both Forenoon and Afternoon if not hindred by the weather or some extraordinary occasion and calling upon my Servants to doe the same And all the week after it was my constant course to pray with my Family once if not twice every day and if I had not a Levite in my House I performed the office my selfe 'T is true though in my owne private devotions Morning and Evening Iused constantly without failing my owne conceived Ejaculations to Heaven yet to my Family after the reading some part of the Scripture I commonly used the set formes of Prayers of the Church or of some other godly men which in publick meetings and no extraordinary occasion hapning I conceive to be very fitting and sufficiently warranted both from Moses David and Solomon who composed Prayers for the Church as likewise from Christ himselfe who made a Prayer for his Disciples and bid them pray This Our Father c. It is warranted also by the practice of Christ who sure had the Spirit of Prayer as much as any yet in his Agony he used no variety but three severall times as the Text hath it went and said the same words Father if thou wilt let this cup passe from me He quarrelled not at the set forme nor doe I know why any man should If another man have composed a Prayer whose words speak my minde to the full and peradventure more full then my own words can doe it why should not I use them Let thy heart and affections goe with his words and then they are thine owne I confesse I like not praying by roat and I think him but a dull Christian who cannot or does not upon extraordinary occasions pour out his soul to God in his owne words Thou mayest have some soars which none but thy own words can discover But at a publique meeting upon a generall confession of our sins when we all joyn together in Prayer what a pleasant harmony or rather thundering violence doth it use to Heaven gates to bring down a remission of our sins And this hath the Church of God used heretofore For my part I cannot dislike it so the publick be not omitted for I confesse Nothing speaks a Christian better then frequencie in prayer no duty comes neer it It makes thee acquainted with Heaven it begets a familiarity between thee and thy god that ye
therefore you need not suggest my displeasure continued against you To that very night you did this bloody fact how have I courted thee as my Mistresse not my Son Ever since I came from Vpnor how have I every day sought new wayes and journeyes to have thy company Surely these are no arguments of a Fathers displeasure But say I was displeased Why then didst thou not kill me and spare that innocent Lambe O Youth I believe thou mightest be offended at me but certainly the maine thing that provoked thee was thy envy at thy Brothers vertues and growing goodnesse and that he was the Elder and that I and the world began to look on him and love him Oh hellish wickednesse Heaven give thee grace to repent thee heartily of it and God be mercifull to thy most foule Soule and wash it clean in the blood of his deare Son Christ Jesus that when thou comest to dye it may be a guest fitting to be received into his pure mansions And that it may there ever live with him in eternall blisse is the constant prayer of Thy most sad and disconsolate Father GEORGE SONDES After this my Sonne sent me another Letter which was as followeth Deare and ever honoured Father IN the midst of all the distresses of my sad Soule the sweetnesse of your love and fatherly indulgence brings with it much comfort to my disconsolate spirit which is a little revived by your loving Letter to the High Sheriffe whereby I have this liberty to present the most dutifull affection of a penitent Sonne Good Father let me upon my humble request obtain your gracious pardon and forgivenesse of all my former disobedient actings and admit me I beseech you into your prayers that I may be thankfull to my heavenly Father for this respite of life and imploy the short remainder of my daies in Repentance Prayer and other holy duties That so thereby I may win comfort to my poore soule here and through the mercies of Christ my Saviour enjoy everlasting blisse hereafter Which God of his infinite mercy vouchsafe unto You deare Father and to me Your most affectionate and obedient sonne FREEMAN SONDES After this I sent him this following Letter Son Freeman THe time of your leaving this world for ought I know draws neer and I hope as you have had sufficient time so you have made good use of it and are prepared to go to your God If you have as you tell me a true sight and hearty sorrow for your foule sinne then I doubt not but when you are dissolved you shall be with Christ And if I could be once thorowly assured of that I confesse as you say I should have comfort in your death although I have had but little in your life But let me beg of thee my Son doe not deceive thy own soule God is not mocked he sees not as man seeth there is no dissembling with him Now is the time of thy making or undoing forever As the tree falls here so it lyes If thou goest out a true penitent here thou shalt undoubtedly be a glorious Saint in heaven hereafter But know it is not all the prayers and teares and cries of all the godly Ministers about you who I heare and heartily thank them for it have plentifully afforded you their assistance nor the earnest beggings of your Father or of the Churches can doe that work It must come from thy own self thy own heart must beg it or all will be in vain The hottest Sun cannot make a dead tree live nor the strongest blowings kindle fire in a dead coale If there be no sap in the root the Sun doth but dry and not enliven the tree If no spark of fire lie hidden under the ashes all the blowings will never make it to burn I hope thou hast some sparks of grace in thee though deeply buried under a world of rubbish and I hope all those godly bellows that are used will blow that away and make thy fire of true repentance and godly sorrow burn clear and make thee able truly to say with the Prodigall Father I have finned against heaven and against thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son and then thou mayst be assured of the like reception from him He will imbrace thee in the arms of his mercy he will feast thee in his heavenly mansions For thou wert lost but now thou art found thou wast dead to sinne but now thou art alive in Christ and shalt for ever live in him Oh happy sadnesse if it produce this joy Oh happy death if it produce thee that blessed life happy change to leave a world of misery to go to an heaven of blisse Oh Freeman rouse up thy selfe like a man minde the worke you are about stirre up the graces which I hope are in thee Certainly thou canst not be so barren of knowledge and goodnesse as I heare you make your selfe to be Thou hast been instructed in the wayes of godlinesse from a Childe Thou hadst Masters and Tutours to keep thee in them when thou wast abroad and at home thou hadst thy Fathers counsell and example He never failed to cause you and your Brother to reade the Scriptures and constantly himself prayed with you and called on you to betake your selves to your private devotions and still had you to Church to hear the best men and the most godly Sermons and discours'd to you of what was preached Is all this lost hath this foule sin so deaded thy soule that no spark of true grace can appear Take this comfort mans sinne cannot be so great but Gods mercy is greater Hell is onely full of impenitent soules If thou canst but truly repent God will forgive Say but with David heartily I have sinned and God will say to thy soule as Nathan to him The Lord hath forgiven thy sinne The Thief on the Crosse no sooner said Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdome but Christ said This day shalt thou be with me in paradise And doe you but deal plainly and clearly with heaven I doubt not but you will finde the same answer to your own soule Doe not palliate or shift off thy sinne I tell thee neither thy Father or thy Brother I am sure ever gave thee the least occasion which might provoke thee to commit this foule fact Too much softnesse and gentlenesse old Ely's fault was his more than any other I could but reprove thee with this Doe so no more my Son I have often checked my selfe for it I know I ought to have gone higher but thy dogged and stubborn nature was such that I feared to doe it and I could not see any reproofs did work good upon thee No I tell you you have none to accuse in this but your own wicked and envious disposition and the Devil who had got so much power over thee as to make thee to doe his will And thanks be to heaven that restrained both his and your