Selected quad for the lemma: head_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
head_n	body_n	member_n	mystical_a	10,421	5	11.0632	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28164	Purgatory surveyed, or, A particular accompt of the happy and yet thrice unhappy state of the souls there also of the singular charity and wayes we have to relieve them : and of the devotion of all ages for the souls departed : with twelve excellent means to prevent purgatory and the resolution of many curious and important points.; De l'etat heureux et malheureux des âmes souffrantes du purgatoire. English. 1663	Binet, Etienne, 1569-1639.; Ashby, Richard, 1614-1680.	1663 (1663)	Wing B2915; ESTC R31274	138,491	416

of Siena be●●●d two years together with tears in her Eyes that she might be damned for all mankind and that she alone might suffer all the pains of Hell rather then any one soul should be damned or her dearest spouse grievously offended And do you believe that a tender Virgin made of flesh and blood and as yet a sinner at least so far as to be guilty of certain venial transgressions can have less Self-love more courage and more of the love of God then the souls of the other world who are totally disengaged from all self-respects and love God only with a most perfect love No they had rather double and redouble their cruel Martyrdomes with a million of fresh torments then willingly give consent that for their sakes one should forbear to hinder the commission of a mortal sin or the damnation of a soul And therefore should the case fall in your way stick not t● bestow your time for the benefit of the living do not so much as think on the Souls in Purgatory who would most willingly melt themselves away in tormenting fire rather then permit such a horrible mischief §. 3. Of the great advantages we receive by this devotion for the Souls departed BUt to come nearer to you It makes most for our interest to pray for th●m seeing that interest rules the world most and is the spirit that moves the whole Universe if you are at all sensible of your own interest I mean a holy interest allowed of by God himself to wit an interest which we all have in the encrease of our Grace Glory and eternal happiness in Gods name do all the good you can for your neighbour I except only the case I lately spoke of I defie you to do the thing that can bring you so much true and solid good or be of so much advantage to you as is the striving to relieve the Souls in Purgatory with your pious endeavours And first though it were true Their 〈◊〉 angels 〈◊〉 strive to ●●quite us as many will have it that the Souls in Purgatory are not able to obtain the least mercy of almighty God for themselves or us in respect of their present confinement in which they lye as it were at pawne and under a most severe restraint and strict seizure yet have we reason to believe their good angels will supply their defect and not fail to requite you for seconding them so well in delivering the Souls under their charge for whom they are in a kind of pain to see them endure so much pain and yet to be held back as it were only by a smal thred from enjoying their full liberty and becoming their companious and as glorious as themselves One sigh or sob one tear of yours shed for these captive Souls is enough to cut the thred and then they will cry out with holy David Our souls are got loose like the innocent Sparrow and are flown up to Heaven having luckily broken the Iron nets that h●ld them bound to hellish fire The holy name of God be ever blessed and they also who have been so kind as to call upon him in our behalfs It is you dear Reader to whom these holy souls address their speech whom you have comforted with a good wish or with a Tear or with a Mass or with a Communion But suppose the Angels should God will be sure to reward us neglect to performe this good office which notwithstanding we have reason to expect of their charity God himself would not fayl to do it For beholding the zeal with which you burn and the charity which impels you to succour those tormented souls whom he loves and for whom he has prepared eternal Laurels and rich Crowns of immortal glory can you doubt whether he takes it well that you love these his dear friends that you have a tender heart towards them he so tenderly loves that you do this good work believing as it is most true that this is faternal charity in the highest point of its perfection and that making choyce of it to ●erve God in the best manner by your self and by those holy souls his infinite goodness is highly pleased with your charity so well bestowed and on so good a subject Mark well the reason I am now going about to lay down before you Christ Jesus has vouchsafed to honour his Church so far as to stile her his body of which he is the divine head Now it is most certain that of all the members of this most sacred and mistical body that which is the most oppressed with evils and the most lamentably afflicted are these dear souls who are alass most severely treated in the bosome of the Church-suffering since there is not any torment in the world that is comparable to theirs as you have seen elsewhere If then our Blessed Saviour see your heart melt with co●passion for that part of his body which is the most comfortless and the most afflicted of all others sure he must needs love you with a paternal affection and give you a thousand benedictions for the ease and pleasure you give him in that part of his body which suffers most Historians tell us how a man having one day plucked out a thorne out of a lions foot the generous beast feeling himself eased in that part which was most grieved soon forgot his fierce nature and by force of love and gratitude metamorphosed himself into a Lamb to waite upon this Saviour of his who had ●● us preserved his life and by way of requital in a like occasion of danger saved the 〈◊〉 life also to the astonishme●● 〈◊〉 all the beholders God playes the Lyon of Juda below in Purgatory permitting his justice to sway the Scepter of rigour now if you but pul out the thorne out of his foot that is 〈◊〉 you ease him in that part of 〈◊〉 mystical body which suffers t●e pains of Purgatory this Lyon will soon become a Lamb he will not only save these poor souls but when you your self are in most need as when you are strugling for life he will shew himself he will fight for you and will give you the true life In a word he will make you clearly see how well he takes it that you have pluckt out the thorne out of his foot Now let us suppose the worst The souls themselves will pray for us Put case that neither God nor his Angels do requite you Yet I maintaine you cannot do an act of faternal charity wherein your gain is so great and so certain as this I do not say it because th● men of this world are commonly in an ill sta●● 〈◊〉 which their prayers can do you no service I do not say it because though you suppose them to be in the state of grace yet is their devotion for you soon at an end and while it lasts is but a slender cold and untoward piece of service I do not say that these souls

of their sensual and beastly appetites But you must observe that all The power of grace above nature this happens while a soul is left to her selfe and her own natural forces for when the divine goodness is pleased to furnish her with plenty of his grace even in this world as wicked as it is this grace has such an ascendant over nature and breathes such spirit and vigour into a soul that she can wrestle with all difficulties and remove all obstacle● nay though the body be borne and sunke into the very center of misery yet can she still hold up her head and steer her course towards heaven Now will you clearly see how the souls can at the same instant swim in a paradise of delights and ●et be overwhelmed with the hellish torments of Purgatory cast your eyes upon the holy Martyrs of Gods Church and observe their behaviour They were torn mangled dismembred flead alive rackt broyled burnt and tell me was not this to live in a kind of Hell and yet in the very height of their torments their hearts and souls were ready to leape for joy you would have taken them to be already transported into heaven Hear them but speak for themselves O lovely Cross made St. Andrew beautiful by the precious body of Christ how long have I desired thee and with what care have I sought thee and now I have found thee receive me into thy armes and lift me up to my dear Redeemer O death how amiable art thou in my Eyes and how sweet is thy cruelty Your coales your flaming firebands and all St. Cec●ly the terrours of death are to me but as so many fragrant Roses and Lillies sent from Heaven Shower down upon me whole deluges St. Stephen of stones whil'st I see the Heavens open and Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of his eternal father to behold the fidelity of his Champion Turne O St. Laurence turne the other side thou cruel Tyrant this is already broild and cookt fit for thy Palate O how well am I pleased to suffer this little Purgatory for the love of my Saviour Make hast O my Soul St. Agnes to cast thy selfe upon the nuptial bed of flames which thy dear Spouse has prepared for thee O St. Felicitus and the Mother of the Machabees that I had a thousand Children or a thousand lives to sacrifice them all to my God What a pleasure it is to suffer for so good a cause Welcome tyrants tygres St. Ignatius Lyons let all the torments that the Devils can invent come upon me so I may enjoy my Saviour I am the wheat of Christ O let me be ground with the Lyons teeth Now I begin indeed to be the disciple of Christ O the luckie stroak St. Paul of a Sword that no sooner cuts of my head but makes a breach for my Soul to enter into Heaven Let it be far from me to glory in any thing but in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Let all evils band against me and let my body be never so overloaded with afflictions the joy of my heart will be sure to have the mastry and my soul will be still replenished with such heavenly consolations that no words nor even thoughts are able to express it You may imagine then that the Souls once unfettered from the body may together with their torments be capable of great comforts and divine favours and break forth into re●olute heroical and supercelestial acts The holy Ghost tels us that the body that Sap. 9. 15. is corrupted burthens the Soul and the earthly habitation presses downe the understanding So that a Soul by the infirmities of the body is violently kept from the free excercise of her functions whereas if the body were supple pliable and willing to follow the perswations of a resolute and generous Soul or the inspirations with which she is plentifully supplied from above what might we not be able to do even in this life Now that which is not done here but by very few who are lookt upon as so many miracles and prodigies of men is easily performed by those separate holy souls who are in the very porch of Heaven assured of their eternal salvation In fine will you have a most perfect exemplar and idea of this wonderful combination of ●oys and griefs in one simple person you may clearly see it in the most sacred person of our blessed Saviour who in the midst of his bitter passion and in the very height of his agony and extream dereliction when he not only seem'd to have been abandoned by his eternal Father but had even abandoned and forsaken himselfe by miraculously withholding the superiour part of his blessed Soul from relieving and assisting the inferiour yet even then had all the comforts of Heaven and saw God face to face and consequently was at the selfe same time most happy by the fruition of the beatifi●al vision and yet so oppressed with griefs that he cried out himself my soul is sorrowful unto death and againe O my God alas why hast thou thus forsaken me Conceive somthing like unto this of the Souls in Purgatory who are most miserably tormented and yet replenished with heavenly comforts §. 2. Two maine grounds of their comfort the double assurance they have of their salvation and impeccability THe better to unfold you this They are certain of ●heir salvation riddle I must tell you that possibly the most solid and powerful ground of their comfort is the assurance of their eternal salvation and that one day when it shall please God they shall have their part in the joyes of Paradise That which is the sorest affliction in this life unto the most refined Souls in the greatest torments is the fear of offending God and making an unhappy end for want of the gift of perseverance of which none can be assured without a particular revelation and so becoming the Devils martirs by purchasing one Hell with another For if an Angel should come down from Heaven and give this infallible assurance unto an aff●●cted person that undoubtedly he shall be saved as being one of the choyce number of the elect certainly his very heart would leap for joy nor would the severest usage with death it selfe and death represented in her most frightful and gastly attire seem cruel or irksome unto him but exceeding welcome and pleasant When almighty God was pleased once to reveal unto St. Francis his eternal predestination and to seal him as it were a deed of gift of Paradise this Seraphin incarnate was so transported with an extasie of joy and so ravished out of himselfe that for eight dayes together he did nothing but go up and down crying out Paradise Paradise O my soul thou shalt have Paradice and had so quite lost all memory of eating drinking sleeping suffering living dying and all things else as being inebriated with the sweet remembrance of that