Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	year_n	young_a	zeal_n	36	3	7.3710	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A11615	Calderwoods recantation: or, A tripartite discourse Directed to such of the ministerie, and others in Scotland, that refuse conformitie to the ordinances of the church. Wherein the causes and bad effects of such separation, the legall proceedings against the refractarie, and nullitie of their cause, are softly launced, and they louingly inuited to the vniformitie of the church.	Scot, Patrick.	1622 (1622)	STC 21857; ESTC S103208	18,004	58

Coast they haue many different Enemyes some ready to slander them some more ready to amplifie such scandall and some most ready to beleeue it Magnes mendacij credulitas Credulitie is the Load-stone of Lyes and Enuie will creepe where it dare not goe But if any haue lost their first Loue if any be neyther hot nor cold if any haue stumbled at the Threshold in such sort that they cannot sit well that entred ill it is time they returne whence they are fallen and confirme the things that remayne Great is the weight of their fault eorum causa abhorrebant a Sacrificio Domini It is the weakenesse of humane frailtie rather to take poysonable Receits out of Gold-glistering Boxes then wholesome Medicines from course cleanely Vessels of Clay But it were better wee had Elias Hunger or Samsons Thirst in taking our Meat from a Rauen or our Drinke from the Iaw-bone of an Asse rather then to deface them or cast contempt vpon their Calling The holy Angell would giue no sentence of Blasphemie against the common Slanderer but increpet te Dominus It is noted in the Ecclesiasticall Historie That the ancient Synods when they depriued any Bishops neuer recorded the Offence but buried it in perpetuall silence C ham purchased his Fathers Curse for reuealing his Fathers disgrace Many good Fathers spoke seuerely against the vnworthinesse of Bishops One sayth Sacerdotes nominamur non sumus another sayth Nisi bonum opus amplectaris Episcopus esse non potes but these nor no other euer did put doubt of the lawfulnesse of the Calling and Ordination of Bishops The second cause of Controuersies is in multiplying of them by men whom the Church neuer wanteth and who loues the salutation of RABBI not so much in Ceremonie and Complement as in inward Authoritie which they seeke ouer mens Mindes in drawing them to depend vpon their Opinion and to seeke Knowledge at their Lippes These are the true Successors of Diotrephes Louers of Preheminence and doe delight vpon another sort of Spirits which doe adhere to them Quorumque gloria in obsequio stiffe Fellowes who in zeale follow mightily after those vpon whose Oracles they depend and are for the most part men of young Yeeres or superficiall Vnderstanding or both and carryed away with enticing apparencie of Singularitie Goodly Names and Pretences Pauci res ipsas sequuntur plures nomina rerum plurimi Magistrorum the matter controuerted is least thought vpon Yet about these Controuersies are wreathed and interlaced such accidentall or priuate Emulations and Discontentments as ioyned together breake foorth into such contention as violates eyther Truth Sobrietie or Peace Some will be no longer ex numero others side themselues before they know the right hand from the left Transeunt ab ignorantia ad preiudicium they leape from Ignorance to a preiudicate Opinion and neuer take sound Iudgement in their way so that inter iuuenile consilium senile preiudicium omnis veritas corrumpitur when such are indifferent and not partiall then is their Iudgement weake and vnripe through want of yeeres and when it groweth to strength it is so forestalled by preiudicat opinions that it is made vnprofitable Betweene these two the Truth is encroached vpon Supreme Powers contemned and the Honorable Names of Puritie Reformation and Discipline are trampled vpon and made the subiects of contention The third occasion as I obserue of our Controuersies is an extreme vnkind detestation of some former Heresie or Corruption already acknowledged or conuicted Vpon this Root haue most of the Heresies and Schismes of the Church sprung whilest men haue grounded their Zeale and measured the bonds of most perfect Religion by the furthest distance from the Errors last condemned but these be Posthumi Haeresium filij Heresies or Schismes that arise from the ashes of such as are already extinct Some thinke it the true Load-stone to try which Doctrine is good and sound by measuring which is more or lesse opposite to the Church of Rome be it Ceremonie Pollicy or Matter of Gouernment yea if it be matter of greater moment that is euer most perfect which is remooued most degrees from that Church and that euer polluted or blemished that participateth in any apparencie with it But is it reason I pray you because wee differ from the Roman Church in the adoration of the Elements and substance of the Eucharist shall wee also abandon the reuerent modest comely and commendable receiuing thereof vpon our knees No wee must keepe the good and reiect the bad It is a consideration of much greater wisdome and sobriety to bee well aduised Whether in the generall demolition of the Church of Rome in Scotland all mens actions being imperfect some good was not purged with the bad The Husbandman doth not disclayme his heape of Corne because it is mixed with Chaffe neyther doth the Fisherman refuse his Draught of Fish because there is some Weeds in the Net or doth God separate himselfe from the faithfull Soule because it is polluted with humane corruptions It was the ancient custome of the Fathers saith Augustine to approue rather then reiect the good things which they did find in the very Heresies and Schismes The fourth cause of our Controuersies I take to be the partiall affectation and imitation of Geneua and forraine Churches a matter which in former times hath much troubled the Church for many of our Ministers in the time of their Persecution as they call it or rather Prodigals flight hauing been conuersant with the Churches abroad and receiued a great impression of the Gouernment there maintained violently seeke to intrude the like into our Churches But conueniamus in eo quod conuenit non in eo quod receptum est alibi let vs not apishly imitate euery new coyned Custome Non quod optimum sed e bonis quod proximum est eligendum of good things not that which is best but sometimes that which is readiest is to be chosen I wish wee might striue with other Churches as the Vine with the Oliue which of vs beareth best Fruit not with the Thistle and Brier which of vs is most vnprofitable Our Church in the I le of Great Britaine praysed be God is not to plaint it is established and setled in the fulnesse of Peace in the sinceritie of Doctrine and in the Wisedome of Policie and Discipline The Word is truely preached by many godly learned and famous Pastors the Policie Discipline established by the Ciuill Magistrat in former times in most parts of this I le now confirmed by a Religious and Learned King who from his Cradle hath laboured to see the Church flourish in vnitie and peace Shall then the affected paritie of a few transported with wrong ends disturbe this Peace God forbid Or shall the Gouernment of the Church bee committed to the confused Synods Presbyteriall Meetings and Parochiall Sessions of those whose Voyces are numbred not weighed Talia consilia non minuunt malum

sed augent potius The fift cause of our continued fierie Contentions is the passionate and vnbrotherly practices against the persons of others for their discredit and suppression First the Seperatist goeth about to condemne the Gouernment of Bishops as an Hierarchie remaining to vs of the corruption of the Roman Church and then not finding footing in so sinking a ground he desireth reformation of certaine Ceremonies which hee supposeth to be superstitious as Kneeling at the receiuing of the Sacrament Church-Liturgie Musike the wearing of Surplus and the like Lastly they dreame vnto themselues an onely and perpetuall Gouernment of the Church which without consideration possibilitie or foresight of perill must be erected and planted by the Magistrate and heere some stay Others goe further on in following Knox his damnable Doctrine and say the same Gouernment must bee reared vp maintained and accepted by the people at the perill of their saluation without attending the aduancement thereof by other Supreme Authoritie then their owne and from this Source floweth the inordinate zeale of some ignorant phantasticall or singular and vnquiet Spirits amongst the Gentry and Citizens who in singular humors for popular applause with Simon will be baptized with companie But I wish such remember that in seeking Truth in Disobedience without Peace at once they lose Truth Loue Peace their Adherents and themselues Such coales of Zeale are like the Alchymists Elixar about which much is spent more talked and it neuer brought to passe Let the Quintessence of your Wits be extracted all your Obseruations capitulate all your Experiments abstracted and all your Arguments vnited all will end with great losse and vanish in smoake You shall but by seeking such Reformation and bringing of Impossibilities into the Church for matters triuiall hazard the ouerthrow of those of greater weight and of peace for euer But perhaps you will say that the Bishops maintayne as well Abuses as good Ordinances and that your reasonable Demands are Vilipendit or not answered but I answere as they haue formerly done to the like immodest Challenge That as there is no Element which is not through many commixtions depraued from the first simplicitie so no Church euer breathed in so pure an Ayre as it might not complayne of some thicke and vnwholesome euaporations of Error or Sinne. If you challenge Immunitie it is rather presumption then true wisedome If too many sinnes of practice hath thickned the Ayre of our Church yet hath not one Heresie infected it There is no Calues in our Dan and Bethel none of Ieroboams Idolatrye They confesse that there bee many Imperfections in the Church as Tares amongst the Corne which according to the Wisedome taught by our Sauiour are not with strife to be pulled vp but to grow together till the Haruest They grow not to an absolute defence of all the Orders of the Church or of the abuse of good Institutions neyther doe they stiffely hold that nothing is to bee innouated as if it would make a breach vpon the rest They know that Leges nouis legibus non recreatae acceseunt Lawes not refreshed with new Lawes waxe sowre They are not ignorant that taking away of Abuses supplanteth not good Orders but confirmeth them and that a contentious retayning of a Custome is as turbulent a thing as Innouation Therefore as good Husbandmen they are euer pruning and stirring in their Vineyard or Field not vnskilfully or vnseasonably yet haue they euer somewhat to doe But in the ordering of these things confused Paritie is not Iudge Priuate Profession is one thing and publike Reformation another euery man must doe that in the mayne none this but such of whom God sayth I haue sayd you are Gods Quis sum is the question of a good man but Quis es of an enuious Eye that can see others and not it selfe Looke to your owne charge in feeding Gods People committed to you and following your ordinary Callings Doe not like bad Husbands gadde abroad to other mens Houses neyther bee busie Bishops in other mens Diocesses Set not your Teeth on edge with the sowre Grapes of others If the Rulers of the Church cast not out Abuses and vnworthy Ordinances the sinne is theirs if a man vnworthy enter the sinne is his But if you will not enter because such a one is entred the sinne is yours You shall not answere for other mens Faults but for your owne Neglects other mens sinnes cannot dispence with your dutie There is a concinnitie of Members and sympathie of Affections in Gods House The Head must not despise the Hands or other inferior Members neither these Members enuy the Head you are to obey Presume not then vpon your owne Worth or contend by Malice to ouer-rule neither vpon your priuat Authoritie obtrude to the Church such Gouernment which neuer had beeing but in idle Speculation Beleeue mee Brethren too much Presumption gnaweth the Bones of the Spirit euen to the Marrow of Ignorance and when Malice and Enuy are coupled with Presumption and Ignorance and are kindled against the Modestie of the Vertuous the flame by reflection burneth those that kindle it and lighteth those that are detracted till they attaine to the path and possession of Honor. To this former complaint you adde that you are charged as if you did deny Tribute vnto Caesar and withdraw from the Ciuill Magistrate the Obedience which is due which you haue euer performed and taught I wish from my heart you could cleare your selues of these too true suggestions But the amplification of this Point falleth to bee in the second part of this Discourse to which I leaue it You say further That Inquisitions and Examinations haue beene too strictly vrged against you That the Bishops are too sudden in silencing such numbers of you That they ought to keepe one Eye open at the Good which you doe and not to looke with both Eyes vpon the Euill which they suppose you doe where now euery inconsiderate Word or light Escape is a Forfeiter of your Voyce and Gift of Teaching These bee the causelesse Complaints vniustly conceiued against your Mother the Church and supreme Authoritie who haue neuer ceased by Motherly loue and Royall fauours to reclayme you But since fayre meanes cannot preuayle and that your Offences are greater then your seruice Iustice may change the Bonds of Recompence into due punishment The Warrants of all former times hath allowed greater seueritie then euer hath beene inflicted vpon you Wise Generals punish mutinous persons more seuerely then Robbers or Adulterers Corah and his company were more fearefully plagued then the Idolatrous Israelites Who cannot rather suffer a lewd Seruant then an vndutifull Sonne though hee pretend a fayre colour for his Disobedience When Nature offendeth Law there Law may be iustly executed on Nature You accuse iustly Apostasie and Seperation in others and shall the Church suffer the least Seisure in you But if you hated your Sinnes more and Peace lesse Prelacie would trouble you