Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	ghost_n	holy_a	power_n	17,679	5	5.2026	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10740	A vvorkeman, that needeth not to be ashamed: or The faithfull steward of Gods house A sermon describing the duety of a godly minister, both in his doctrine and in his life. By Charles Richardson, preacher at S. Katharines, neere the Tower of London.	Richardson, Charles, fl. 1612-1617.	1616 (1616)	STC 21019; ESTC S115966	57,940	78

is more easily discerned if it be separated into parts Macrob. Satur. lib. 1. praefat It were to small purpose if a workeman had stones and timber and all other stuffe necessarie for the building of an house vnlesse hee did dispose and set euerie thing in order So likewise it is to as little purpose for a Minister to be furnished with plentiful matter of instruction for his hearers vnlesse hee obserue an orderly methode in his teaching Confusion hath euer been accounted the mother of errour And therefore in all things men are carefull to proceede in an orderly course In an armie al things are placed in due order And in a feast the Sewer doth not onely set good meat on the table but also disposeth euery thing fitly in due place and time much more should this be obserued of a Minister of the Word in the right disposing of the food of mens soules This serueth for the reproofe of those that offend against this course in the two extremes As first such as obserue no order nor methode at all in handling of the word but vtter whatsoeuer commeth on the tongues end Whereby it commeth to passe that many times they wander from their Text they know not whither and are as farre from the scope and sense of it as the East is from the West And hence also ariseth another inconuenience that they weary and tyre out their hearers by falling into odious and irkesome tautologies and repetitions wherein they often lose themselues in such sort as they cannot get out Lib. 9. declam 5. Whereas Seneca saith wittily in disgrace of such a one That it is no lesse vertue to know when to make an end then how to speake Secondly such as are ouer-curious in their diuisions A thing which Seneca condemneth in the handling of Philosophie In partes non in frusta diuidam Ep. 89. Jbid. Idem n. vitij habet nimia quod nulla diuisio Ibid. I will diuide it saith he into parts not into gobbets and It is profitable to haue it diuided not minsed And againe The parts should not bee innumerable and ouer-little For it is as great a fault to haue too many diuisions as none at all And in a word it is like to confusion whatsoeuer is cut as small as dust Much more is this a thing to be condemned in diuiding of the holy Word of God For they that are so nice in their diuisions and subdiuisions without end are euen like the horse that when hee goeth to drinke blundreth and troubleth the water with his foote which was cleare before so do these leaue the Word of God by this meanes more obscure to the poore people then they found it Let it be our care therefore to obserue a plaine and easie methode contenting our selues with the naturall diuision of the Text that our hearers in their vnderstanding may be able to follow vs from point to point as they are deliuered The third thing wherein the right diuiding of the Word consisteth is to propound and deliuer the instructions of it in such apt and fit words as the hearers may vnderstand it Thus did Ezra open the law to the people in such plaine manner as he caused them to vnderstand it Nehem. 8.3 And the Apostle Paul professeth 1. Cor. 2.4 that his preaching stood not in the intising speech of mans wisedome but in plaine euidence of the Spirit and of power Hee did not set a glosse vpon the Word by humane art as Marchants doe vpon their wares to make them more beautifull but as he saith in the same Chapter Verse 13. He did speake in words which the holy Ghost taught him comparing spirituall things with spirituall things And indeed as the Gospell proceedeth not from men but from God so it teacheth things that are aboue mans sense and reason And therefore in deliuering of the same the Minister should vse not humane but diuine eloquence Gods Word is spirituall and therefore the speech wherein it must be deliuered must also be spirituall euen taught by the Spirit And that is a plaine and an easie stile which is both most fit to carry the Word to the conscience of euery man and also to expresse the Maiestie of the Word And therefore the Apostle saith in another place that he had rather speake fine words in the Church with his vnderstanding that he might also instruct others then ten thousand wordes in a strange tongue De Doct. Chrlib 4. 1. Cor. 14.19 To which purpose Saint Augustine hath a good saying Hee that teacheth must not care with how great eloquence he teacheth but with how great euidence and plainenesse Cicera in M. Anton. Philip. 3. For what doth purenesse of speech profit which the vnderstanding of the hearer doth not follow Seeing there is no cause at all of speaking if they doe not vnderstand what wee speake for whose sake wee speake that they may vnderstand And therefore he that teacheth must shun all words that teach not This serueth to reprooue all those Horat. de art poet that thinke scorne to condescend and stoope to the capacities of the poore people but vse vaine eloquence such as the hearers cannot vnderstand As there are many that come into the Pulpit with an affected kinde of grauitie as though they were great men and with bombasted and strange new coined words labour to astonish and amaze their hearers when God knoweth the matter is so idle and vaine as that men of iudgement are almost sicke to heare it To such the common prouerbe may be applied There is great boast and little rost Ibid. These men haue little desire to edifie their hearers or to conuert soules to God when they will not speake to their vnderstanding It hath euer been accounted the best eloquence and the best Orators haue alwaies made it their chiefest care to expresse their meaning in the fittest and aptest words that could be And therfore Octauius the Emperour Sueton. in Octa. a man of excellent speech himselfe rebuketh M. Antonius as a mad man as writing such things which men might rather wonder at then vnderstand Much more is this a fault in a Minister of the Word Seneca epist 100 whose greatest defire and endeuour should bee to compose and order mans manners and not their words and to speake to the hearts and not to the eares of his hearers Affected eloquence may for a time tickle and delight the eare but it vanishethaway like the emptie sound of musicke without fruite The fourth and last thing wherein the right diuiding of the Word consisteth is to apply the same to the capacitie and seuerall necessities of the hearers Caluin in locum as if a Father should cut a loafe of bread in pieces to feede his children The doctrine must be tempered to the estate and condition of the auditorie This is the chiefe of all the rest and therfore all the Interpreters beat most vpon it as