Selected quad for the lemma: hand_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
hand_n	body_n	soul_n	spirit_n	5,254	5	5.2345	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50752	Reason an essay / by Sir George Mackenzie.	Mackenzie, George, Sir, 1636-1691.	1690 (1690)	Wing M193; ESTC R20171	47,708	168

noble reflection upon the dignity of our first Creation and a desire to be again like to that God whose Image at first we were and whose Sons we may yet be if we can raise our hopes above those lower Spheres of sensual Joyes and Pleasures which poyson us when they seem sweet and cheat us when they appear great One of the dreadful effects of our following the Example of others is that we think it is sufficient to be as reasonable as they And thus we foolish and unreasonable Mortals stint and bound one anothers goodness now this we shall easily perceive to be most unreasonable when we consider that no Man will satisfie himself in being as powerful or rich as his Neighbours tho' these be much less desireable for a Soul and Spirit which is the Image of an Infinite God and is after all its best endeavours here very far from attaining to that degree of perfection which is even requisite to the life of a Christian. Devotion is a Race and who is it that when he runs with many Rivals will content himself to be in the throng especially if the Prize be considerable And therefore the Apostle exhorts us to forget those things which are behind and to reach forth to those things that are before pressing towards the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Iesus Phil. 3. 14. We are not only obliged to press on to obtain the Crown but being pursued by our spiritual Enemies we are concerned to use all the speed that is possible And would not we conclude him mad who if he were pursu'd for his life would not desire to be past all danger but content himself that he were not the last amongst those who endeavoured to escape It is strange that notwithstanding that Custom does so lead us when we go not where we ought to go but where others have gone before us yet we oft-times err to a contrary extreme and by a contrary reason which is as false and more dangerous than the other reasoning weakly and falsly from a design and desire to be singular and consequently to be admir'd thus even whilst in this we oppose the multitude we design to please them too for no Man admires what does not delight him and probably these same contradictors would have chosen rather to have gone to Fame in the beaten path by a direct pleasing and following of them but finding a Crowd before them in it which they could not pass by they by a long and a dangerous circuit run before and endeavour to keep the Pass on their Rivals and hinder them from coming up at Fame and tho' they want the multitude at present yet they hope to make them follow else they would not differ from them for few would care to continue alone till the last tho' they love to be singular at first yet this humour is a very great Enemy to true reasoning for it introduces a habit of arguing falsly and it is difficult in this dark estate to recover our road if we once quit our light one errour emboldens us to commit another and it is the punishment of it when committed even those who care not to oppose Truth love to be consequential in their opposition for to do otherwise were to be guilty of a double and more palpable vice in reasoning Another great hinderance to right Reasoning is Sensuality For though I am far from being of their opinion who think the Soul nothing but the Animal Spirits since we cannot conceive how matters can think so delicately and subtily yet there is no doubt but the tempers of the Body has great influence on the Mind and that Sobriety does purifie the Blood and make these animal Spirits fitter Organs for the Soul as on the other hand Drunkenness drowns it Gluttony stupifies it and even after that time has dissipated those loads which oppress the Soul there remains a stock of dregs which are easily inflam'd into Lust Rage and other brutal Passions which in a more lasting manner inslave it Therefore Pagans have recommended Sobriety as a Diet for the Soul as well as the Body and the Scripture Fasting as a Religious Duty and since there is none of us so Brutal but if we were about to Preach Plead or assist in a publick Judicature we would be careful to avoid all these Excesses lest thereby our Reason might be disturbed or clouded we ought much more to shun them with an Eye to the service of an Infinite God and the preservation of our immortal Souls minding in this the observation of the Prophet Wine and new wine take away the heart and the advice of our Saviour See that you be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness There remain yet two vigorous Enemies to our Reason to be subdued Bigotry and Raillery which tho' they be contrary to one another Bigotry treating things that are ridiculous as Sacred and Raillery treating things Sacred as ridiculous yet they both conspire against our Reason and are the favourite extravagancies of the times which obliges me to insist the more upon them I define Bigotry to be a laying too much stress upon any circumstantial point of Religion or Worship and the making all other essential Duties subservient thereto and got its name from an occasion extravagant like it self Rolland first Duke of Normandy being obliged to do homage to Charles King of France for that Dutchy refus'd to kiss his Foot except the King would raise it himself to his mouth and when it was told him that the Solemnity consisted in his taking up the King's Foot and kissing it he answer'd Ne se bigot that is to say in old Norman Not so by God Whereupon the King and Court derided him and the Normans were from that occasion called Bigots as they who adhered pertinaciously to Ridiculous Extravagancies These latter Ages having in this dotage of the World produc'd multitudes who mistaking Reformation for Humour and seeing some Devout Men admired for separating from Idolatrous and Superstitious Churches because they would not reform great and fundamental Errours imagined that every thing was to be stuck at with the same zeal which these shewed in matters of greatest consequence and by a farther effect of the same zeal they proceeded to force others to concur with them in their extravagancies which surprising distraction forced Men to bestow on them the name of Bigots Superstition could not so well agree to them that being only an excessive Worship paid to a Deity true or false from an ill-grounded fear of mischief from it nor could dogmatising serve that being only a positiveness in any Opinion joyned to the vanity of thinking that the Dogmatizer had right to dictate to others nor Opiniarity because that consists only in adhering too stifly to any Opinion in spight of the best Reasons nor Schism because it is an unnecessary separation nor Heresie for tho' it is an obstinate Errour in some important point yet it is