Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	father_n	speak_v	word_n	8,168	5	4.4024	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45665	A farewell to popery, in a letter to Dr. Nicholas, vice-chancellor of Oxford, and warden of New-College, from W. H., M. D., lately Fellow of the same college shewing, the true motives that with-drew him to the romish religion, and the reasons of his return to the Church of England : concluding with some short reflections concerning the great duty of charity.	Harris, Walter, 1647-1732.	1679 (1679)	Wing H884; ESTC R9627	22,580	44

much sensible edification from it yet as soon as ever he embraces that Religion he presently throws the Book out of his hands easily parts with it as a thing altogether useless to any body that will but receive it and entirely delivers himself up to the conduct of humane Traditions No future Curiosity shall draw him to read in it nor Arguments taken from it make the least significant impression Now 't is a most wonderful consideration to me how those who profess the Doctrine of the Gospel and think the Scriptures Pen'd by the Spirit of God should presently lose all deference to Gods Word and mind it as little as some idle tale The Fathers of the Church were of a very different temper St. Chrysostom Homil. 9. in Epist ad Coloss speaks thus Audite omnes saeculares comparate vobis Biblia si nihil aliud vultis vel Novum Testamentum acquirite Apostolorum Acta Evangelia c. Hearken to me all you of the Laity provide your selves Bibles every one of you and if you can't reach to procure the whole Bible get the New Testament at least the Acts of the Apostles the Evangelists c. for we must remember that such large Manuscripts as were the whole Bible were too dear to be purchased by every body before Printing was found out There are abundance of Exhortations in St. Chrysostom to the same purpose which Bellarmine as great a wit as he was gives but a very poor Childish answer to Another thing made me seriously reflect and that was the fruitless Devotions that are generally practised in that Church Men shall instead of Praying spend their time in tossing a string of Beads and mumbling they consider not what a Devotion fitter for Children to sport with than Men to Pray with 'T was a most excellent contrivance to make People think they were saying their Prayers when as they were doing nothing for the Beads are of such singular use that you may gape and stare about as much as you please while you say 'em you may talk between whiles walk about the Streets think on what you will and mind what you will and still go on with your tale of Prayers And yet notwithstanding the impertinency of these Knick-knacks they are celebrated by the Church as a most extraordinary Devotion When the Rosary is to be said that is these Beads told over in the Church you must kneel down or else be accounted a Heretick For you must understand the Services of our Lady as this our Ladies Litany and the Salve Regina require much more Reverence and more necessary Obeysance than any Services of our Lord God At Prayers to our Lord you may either sit stand or be as careless as you please but at Prayers to our Lady you must learn better manners and fall on your Knees though 't is never so painful to you to kneel Blessed Soul she does not require these things at our hands she was humble and meek when she was upon Earth and is not to be doubted of the same temper now in Heaven God was then her Saviour as well as ours but now she must be Immaculate and free from Original sin and be supposed to have had no need at all of the Saviour her good spirit did then rejoyce in But 't is natural to Men to flatter Ladies and some must be excused if they do Romance on their account Hence it was she came to be Queen of Heaven Queen of Angels and all Saints the hope and refuge of Sinners c. and is represented with Crowns and Glory whereas her Son must never be suffered to grow bigger than a Baby in her arms to shew his filial subjection to her though the Scripture mentions not any thing that our Saviour said to her or of her in his whole life-time without something as it were on purpose to restrain Men from that Superstition which does now so prevail in the Roman Church Again to enervate quite the very design of true Devotion they have found another way to amuse people with by instructing them to say their Prayers in Latin which they don't understand Women forsooth shall venture to say our Ladys Office in Latin one would think it were on purpose that their Prayers might not be a whit beneficial to their Souls but they say 't is in Reverence to the Church which does all in Latin which Baptizes nay Marries in Latin and plights those Sacred Tyes between ignorant people with a Volo promising they know not what or how And is it not a wise business that because the Priest sings his Part in Latin every ignorant Sot must needs be chirping the same tune in the same unknown language This puts me in mind of a story in my own knowledge A certain Gentlewoman goes to Confession to Somerset-House there eases her mind in a great many matters to the Fryer that understood English Confessions when she had done her story the good Father sets her for her Pennance to say our Ladies Office in Latin every day for a year together a very severe task indeed 't would have been even for a Nun that had little else to do A Priest of my acquaintance from whose own mouth I had this Relation gives this Lady a Visit the next day by chance and finds her full of tears and trouble He enquires into the Cause for they love dearly to know the Secrets of Families and to be a medling where they can and after a few reluctancies were conquer'd she discover'd to him her grief that she had such a Pennance set her as 't was impossible for her to perform for she was not Learned enough to understand a word of Latin He presently Counselled her to make the same Confession to him and she should have no such reason to be troubled for if a Person dislike his Pennance he may lawfully have a new one set him if he will make the same Confession again to another Priest She good Lady was very loth to do that for it seems 't was no small matter she had confest and was therefore unwilling to uncover her sores again Upon that he takes his leave and she blubber'd it out that night but the next morning upon second thoughts grew wiser and came to him with tears and courage together She then fell upon her Knees and out came the grievous things she had committed and this Indulgent Priest was so favourable as to order her only to say the Penitential Psalms once over in English and the Lady became as merry as a Cricket again Hence you see what a mighty stress lies upon Prayers in Latin in the opinion of those senseless Men who never saw any thing of the World out of a Monastery and what wise States-men they 're like to prove when they meddle with publick affairs This other was a secular Priest a Man of a good capacity and judgment and I have seldom met with a more understanding Man of his Coat A few years agoe there

his most Innocent Life with the Ignominious Death upon the Cross can we think he designed that any under pretence of being his Vicar should presently hoise above all that is called God and enlarge their Scepter from Rome to the uttermost parts of the world How Prodigious this Doctrine must have been too in its effects How it hath made Christian Princes and the World to tremble our Nation is now grown sufficiently sensible from the frequent Tragedies that have been acted or designed to be acted upon our own Theater without enumerating the many Forreign instances which might be produced That the Pope and Church of Rome have proudly arrogated such intolerable Power over all Princes that come within their reach all such as desire or are capable of being satisfied concerning it may have recourse to a Letter writ lately on the discovery of this Plot wherein this subject is most solidly and fully as well as briefly handled by a most excellent Pen they may also consider those three Treatises formerly mentioned called The Jesuites Loyalty And yet notwithstanding that this charge is as evident as the Sun 't is pleasant shall I say or wonderful to consider that many good well-meaning Popish Women as well as deaf and blind Gentlemen will not yet be perswaded that the Church is guilty of any such Doctrine no seeing it they will not see and knowing it they will not understand The Infallible Guide must not cannot be suspected of doing any harm and the Director of the Conscience shall presently settle any such scruple with a little of his Art either by flatly denying it or softning it or turning the charge into Ridicule And from this Consideration I shall take occasion to urge one most invincible Argument or Demonstration rather against the Pretended Infallibility of the Romish Church 'T is this That Church which teaches Doctrines that destroy Morality may be fairly suspected nay necessarily concluded to teach Errors in matters of Faith But the Church of Rome has taught Doctrines that destroy Morality Therefore it may be concluded to teach Errors in matters of Faith The Major has as much evidence as Reason can possibly desire For supposing any Man or Men guilty of notorious Vices and exhorting us to the same Vices can the reason of a Christian think such a Man or Men infallible in their Councils in a small affair so as to repose absolute Confidence in him or them much less in the greatest concern of this life the eternal concern of Heaven especially if we consider that Christian Religion all along the Gospel and the rest of the holy Scriptures does advance Morality and put the greatest esteem upon it of any Religion in the World Besides the Doctrines of Self-denial therein urged further than any Philosophers ever thought fit it teaches us to love our Neighbours as our selves to live Peaceably with all men to forgive and do good to our very Enemies and recommends Love and Charity so often and so earnestly as if the rest of Religion Faith in Christ c. were things that needed not being exhorted to they would so necessarily follow by the secret workings of Gods grace where so Loving and Good a Disposition takes place in the heart Now the Minor Proposition that the Church of Rome has taught Doctrines which destroy Morality will easily enough appear if the arrogant allowance of a Proud Prelate to dispose of Kingdoms that don't belong to him to Prosecute with Fire and Sword all such poor innocent Souls as refuse to submit their necks to his heavy yoke to Murder and Assassinate such Kings or Persons as resist his dreadful Invasions which he calls Spiritual though diametrically opposite to the spirit of the Gospel the spirit of Meekness and Charity the spirit of Long-suffering and Peace In a word if the allowance of doing Evil that Good may come of it doing any thing cruel or barbarous for the promotion of Religion be Doctrines that destroy Morality as most certainly they are nay and if those Co●neils which did immediately and that often soon follow the perpetration of such Villanies were so far from detesting the facts that they rather confirmed and encouraged the Pope in them at least never mutter'd good Men at what his Holiness had done then the Assumption of this Argument holds good Now as for the Promises in Scripture which the Church of Rome proudly applies to it self for its Infallibility as concerning God's being with his Church to the end of the world c. I can see no reason why that Church should think it belongs to them more than others It is because that Church has escaped those Devastations and Judgments which the others have so severly felt They have the greater reason to suspect themselves for that for God's People the Israelites did always fall from the true Worship of the Lord and bow'd down to the false Gods of the Gentiles when they flourished most in Prosperity and God was pleased to think that nothing would reclaim 'em but fearful Jugdments such as Plagues War Famine and somtimes Captivities for many years And still upon their return to him he deliver'd them out of all their Afflictions But there and sufficient natural reasons why Italy has less felt the Sword and Power of Foreign Enemies than the other Churches It s Situation defends them from Enemies aboard they have the Ocean on one side the Alps on another and Friends to sustain the brunt on all parts by Land And besides the same reason will plead better for Mahomets Successors as every Age growing more and more Victorious whereas the Empire of the Prelate of Rome has considerably decreased Again That Promise before-mentioned was not made to St. Peter alone but to all the Apostles so that the other Bishops of Apostolical Sees should have deriv'd the same Infallible spirit to their Successors as the Bishop of Rome insolently claims to him and his Church But that other Promise Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church makes the Romanists scorn the rest of the World and look upon themselves as the only Chosen of God St. Peter certainly was a great Apostle Converted many Countries and had the honour to be named first in the Catalogue of the Apostles and so had Priority of Order though in another place he is not numbred for the first Gal. 2.9 But surely if this great Apostle had had a Superior jurisdiction over the rest St. Paul would have been more modest than to have so severely Rebuked him to his Face as he did Gal. 2.11 for a shrewd miscarriage in his charge making the Christian Gentiles to Judaize And St. Paul was so far from encroaching on the Power of St. Peter that he thought himself unworthy of the great Name of an Apostle 1 Cor. 15.9 was so Good that he could have been contented to have been an Anatheina or Accursed for ever for the sake and happiness of his Brethren the Jews Rom. 9.3 Besides St.

take a few words to guide his life by let him remember now and then what S. Paul teaches him in the 5th Chapt. to the Galatians where he reckons up what are the fruits of the Flesh and what the fruits of the Spirit These latter he says are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance against such there is no Law What a chain of kind soft tender words does he here put together as if Good-nature were all in all and our Religion required no other qualification to make the best sort of Christian And doubtless if this be true that Opinion which renders men Morose Harsh Vnkind Vncharitable Contentious or Cruel springs not from the Spirit of God but some evil Spirit But above all things Charity is the Lesson that Christians are obliged to practise heartily so necessary 't is thought in the Holy Scriptures that there are infinite repetitions exhorting us to it and so useful the Meditation of it seems to me that I shall venture to adjoyn some thoughts on this subject though it be a little besides my main intention Charity is almost the whole Duty of Man and he that performs this duty as he should do needs little to be remembred of his duty to God Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self is so comprehensive a Precept and does so fully contain all that can be said that nothing but the Spirit of God could have sum'd up the Law in so few words Charity does respect both our Opinions and our Actions Our Opinions or Censures ought to be govern'd always by it or else they 'l be found to deviate very widely from what the Apostles taught us Judge not least you be judged sounds very dreadfully and severely if we consider the narrow Principles and uncharitable Constructions of almost every party of Man-kind How does every Man now think it Prudence to think the worst of one another How does every little Hot-brain now peevishly confine Salvation to his own narrow Herd though a number so inconsiderable as hardly fit to be named in the large Arithmetick of Nature I should be glad nevertheless if they did not wish ill to as well as think ill of one another That there is no Salvation to be had out of the pale of Gods true Catholick Church I believe as firmly as the great Athanasius did but in what manner this mystery is to be understood I as little perplex my thoughts as how Three can be One how God could be Incarnate of a Virgin or how we shall Rise again with the same numerical Bodies that have by long successions serv'd to nourish one another or been corrupted into as many forms as there are different species of things I could never conceive how this Article of our Belief should render us uncharitable to all that are not of our own persuasion We may as soon expect to have a clear Idea of the Joys of Heaven the frame of Angels or the Essence of our own Souls as to know what company we shall meet with in the other World or who alone shall enter into inconceiveable Bliss Let us but take care of our own particular and by acts of Charity and Devotion provide suitable dispositions for a fit Reception there and we shall be found at last to have spent our time to much better purpose than in such needless and perhaps dangerous disquisitions Men have all souls of the same immense value and the Providence of God is over all in general but what allotments of Grace he has made 'em here or shall hereafter of Rewards and Punishments neither the Apostles seem to define nor Apostolical Men since have presumed to determine I should sin if I ventur'd to speak of this subject either as largely as Origen once did or as narrowly as some Divines do of a latter date though I am apt to think that Errors sprung from too much Charity if I may so say will be found far more Innocent than those from too little Truly it makes my heart ake somtimes to consider how easily and willingly people can hurl one another headlong into the Bottomless pit Suppose but twenty Men were here Condemn'd to the Rack and appointed to suffer the most exquisite tortures that cruel blood-thirsty Men can tell how to invent every day for a month together would not the hearing on seeing such a master-piece of cruelty make every good Man shiver knowing not how near his own turn might be if God should suffer he furious barbarous disposition of some to take place How much more inhumane and dreadful then is it to precipitate one another into that place of torment too intolerable to be express'd if it consists in nothing else but confusion of face and heart the gnawing remorses and continual stings of a guilty self-confounded Conscience Me-thinks it should rather trouble us that any are like to be so unhappy than to keep out by our good-will all that are not of our own Opinion Christ certainly died for all men and I hope we shall find his death applied to the eternal benefit of many harmless virtuous invincibly ignorant People that common Uncharitableness will not let us have a kind thought of here We may lawfully think and hope the best of all Men for though we are forbidden to say too much for 'em I 'm sure we are not allow'd to judge them too severely Who could imagine that those who have often read St. Paul 1 Cor. 13. should forget the absolute necessity of Charity and not be touched with the greatest concern 'T is a Sermon that is second to nothing I know extant unless that Preach'd upon the Mount and I think it deserves to be read full as often as some have well conceited that Pythagora's Golden Verses do deserve not to take a leasure-minute now and then but be the excellent subject of our daily Meditations The Charity there described is of so absolute necessity that though I had the knowledge and Angels and Wisdom of Solomon though I had Faith strong enough to remove Mountains though I gave all my Goods and Possessions to the Poor and my Body to be burned upon any other never so good account yet without this all would signifie nothing That Charity is such as thinks no evil of any Man believeth and hopeth the best of all things and peaceably submitteth to all that God pleases to inflict In a word we are advised to abide in Faith Hope and Charity these three but the greatest of all is said to be Charity I shall not offer to comment upon this Divine Chapter and compare the practice of those that are called Christians with the extensiveness of St. Paul's Description for fear I should either prove or become more uncharitable than I desire To uncover such foul sores without better hopes of healing 'em would but cause a noisome smell and but offend those who suffer them as well as my self and therefore I shall pass to the next branch of this