Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	abel_n	abraham_n	grace_n	19	3	4.4430	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42522	A brief explanation of several mysteries of the Holy Mass, and of the actions of the priest celebrating Very necessary for all Roman Catholics for the better understanding thereof. Together with certain reflections upon the Apostles Creed, touching the blessed Sacrament. And also, divers meditations and prayers both before, and after communion. By T. G. heretofore fellow of New-Colledge in Oxon, deceas'd.	Gawen, Thomas, ca. 1610-1684.	1686 (1686)	Wing G395AA; ESTC R220315	43,939	198

of God Suffer'd for Us from the first Moment of his Conception to the very last of his Death All which space was one continual Suffering for the Redemption of the World By these Three methinks the Church in this Sacrament which she calls Mysterium Fidei would represent unto our Thoughts the very principal and most necessary Objects of our Faith without which we cannot be sav'd Which are in St. Augustin's Judgement the Passion and Resurrection of which the Ascension is the accomplishment of Jesus Christ And for this very Reason perhaps is the number of Three so often observ'd in the Benedictions Crosses and Oraisons to intimate to Us the Holy Trinity the Capital Object of our Faith and withall this Blessed Sacrament which is Offer'd up to all Three Persons therein though attributed more particularly to the Father This may here be Noted by way that the Crosses made by the Priest on the Hoste after Consecration are not as others Benedictions but only marks of Crucifying of the Hoste intimating the particular manner of its Immolation DEVOTION BLess me O my God by frequent Impressions made upon my Soul of Thy Death and Passion as the Priest makes Tokens thereof by so often Signing the Cross ✚ upon Thy Body and Blood after he hath Offer'd them up unto Thy Father Multiply upon Me Thy Graces in abundance Now that thou hast vouchsafed to Consecrate and make Me Thy Son by Baptism and to Feed me in the Fucharist with thine own Substance the same with That of the Son of God That my Whole Life may be suitable to so Divine a Birth and Aliment Accord me the Grace I Pray Thee that in all Occurences of This Life Good or Bad I may still draw Comfort from Thy Cross to support me that I may Ever and anon renew in my mind the Memory thereof so effectually as thereby to sweeten to my self my Sufferings and to learn Moderation in Happier Success and throughout the whole course of my Time to find still in That History seasonable Applications to all my Necessities At the Supra Quae. NExt He Prays God Graciously to accept from Us This Sacrifice remembring how well he was pleas'd with That of Abel that of Abraham and that of Melchizedech that so having so kindly taken from those Holy Men the most Famous Sacrificers in all Antiquities such remarkable Types and Figures of This he would not less favourably receive from Us The Substance it Self but endue us with some of that Grace and Purity wherewith They accompanied the Offering up of what was indeed but the shaddow of This. DEVOTION I Beseech Thee O my God That as This Sacrifice is altogether Spiritual and Divine having nothing in It of Sensible or Earthly but only the Outward Appearance and Shell as it were so I may Offer it up to Thee together with the Priest by a Motive and Inspiration wholly Spiritual and Divine in such manner as That the very External Actions themselves flowing from and govern'd by it may have Nothing of Flesh or Corporealness in them except the bare Appearance and Outside only And that all the Works and Services which I pay to Thee during my whole Life may be One Continual Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving Internal and from the Heart That being according to the Scriptures the Chief Sacrifice that thou likest and Callest for Thus let me Imitate the Devotion of those Holy Patriarchs Abel Melchizedech and Abraham who Sacrific'd to Thee after the same manner long before the Evangelical Law of Grace by Voluntary Affection and not by Command in the Spirit not Letter and became thereby the most Notable Figures of the Sacrificing that Thou performd'st afterward more perfectly to Thy Father and that all Thy Faithful are oblig'd to perform together with Thee all their Life long Let me not Rest in or Content my self with the bare Outward Actions and Ceremonies how Solemn and Pompous and truly Great soever they are themselves but Worship Thee chiefly by a Movement that comes into my Heart like that Fire of Old from Thee thy self in that Spirit and in That Truth which alone Soveraignly Ingratiate to Thee whatever is Offer'd Even this very Oblation of Thy Self Supplices te Rogamus HE proceeds higher and Prays that this Sacrifice may now be Offer'd rather upon that High-Altar of Gods in Heaven by his most Holy Angel For touch'd with a Consciousness of his own great unfitness to Offer a Sacrifice so transcendently Holy he falls back to Re-substitute Jesus Christ in his own room that He himself who is The Angel of the Great Councel would Offer It up to the Divine Majesty By this imploying that as Jesus Christ is the only High-Priest for this Sacrifice so He alone is fit to be the Presenter of It to His Father and to hear the Name of Angel however it be in some sense Communicated to other Priests also and that no man is worthy to be in this no not so much as His Deputy DEVOTION YEt after all 't is not Me O my God 't is not Me nor any one else here Offering Sacrifice to Thee that I desire Thee to Regard in this Action Regard Jesus Christ who is That Angel That Mediator between God and Men That Sacrificer for the whole Church Regard Him Be He the Person that now Presents to Thee this most Holy Host and be We meerly and barely His Instruments not stirring in this Heavenly Operation in the least guise as we are Animated and Mov'd by His Spirit And whatsoever we have about us Impure and Unclean let It all sall off aad be quite remov'd from us by the Cleansing power of Thy Grace That As in very deed It is not We that Live but He that Lives in Us so It may truly be said It is not We now that Offer up to Thee this Sacrifice but It is He that Offers it in Us as who alone hath the Faculty and Power to do It. But keep Vs all the while This is doing in a Trembling Posture looking at this Sacrifice and Mystery as that which the Church hath thought and styl'd Terrible that all our Confidence in a Business of this High Nature so infinitely beyond the Port of our low and despicable Condition may be rais'd and support It self solely upon Jesus Christ and we be no more than the visible Hands of that other Invi●sible one by which he presents It to Thee above upon that Caelestial Altar The Second Memento THis Sacrifice now fully perfected He designes it First for the Dead Offering It up for Them in a particular Commemoration following here in the custom ever practic'd in the Church 2. And then for the Living and more earnestly and intimated by a Thump on the Breast and a more Audible Tone for such as are Present that we may all be joyn'd to the Society of Those in Glory not for our Merits but for those of Jesus Christ since we have none of our own but what He pleases to

Messias coming together with the Joy of Men and Angels immediatly upon It. This being the Hymne Sung at His Nativity Very properly therefore is This Angelical Hymne of Joy omitted upon days of Sadness and Penitence such as are days of Commemorations of the Dead and Ordinary Feria's which in going before Sunday the day of the Resurrection sitly shaddow out to us the Time of this Life to be a Time of Repentance and preparing our selves for that Great Lords-day at the General Resurrection And so this Hymn of Glory is Sung still on every Lords-day and the days of the Blessed Virgin and the other Saints now Regnant in the Glory of Christ their Lord. DEVOTION I Humbly Thank Thee my God! That thou hast been pleas'd to give Me my Being Now after thy Incarnation and Nativity Vnder the New-Law and In Thy Holy Church Thus separating me from so many Infidels so many Hereticks and Schismaticks as be without and if I be not Treacherous to my self from so many False Christians that Live even in the midst of It as if they had as little Faith as those I beseech Thee that As the Reflection upon this Transcendent Good is deservedly the Cause of so Great Joy and Jubilation common to All the Angels in Heaven and on Earth to All Men of good Will so It may ever Affect my Soul more sensible and more piercingly then All the Pleasures or then All the Pains that can befall It in this World Make me count it my chiefest Felicity to be One in the Number ber of those Men of Peace and Good-Will that the Angels Saluted and gave the Joy to at Thy Nativity Give me that Peace which the World cannot give and That Good Will which alone gives me back again to Thee There 's no good Good Will but in a True Love of Thee O give me That Dominus Vobiscum HEre the Priest turning about to the People and Blessing Them seems to Communicate to them the Benedictions of Christ Jesus now born in the Flesh for this very purpose to Bless Mankind And therefore his Blessing in particular is That God may continue amongst Vs Exprest in those very words which unfold That Name which the Scripture gives to Christ in order to his Incarnation that is Emanuel as much as to say A God with Vs But before he pronounceth This Blessing He Kisses the Altar as It were taking It in his Mouth first from Jesus Christ himself in whose stead stands the Altar as from whom being an in-exhaustible Spring open'd by God for our refreshment All manner of Blessings Favours and Graces are deriv'd upon Us. DEVOTION VOuchsaefe me the Grace to lead in this Blessed Time of the New-Law and in the Communion of thy Holy Church where thou art still Present with Vs after a special manner such a Life as may render me capable of all thy Blessings that thou mayst still Turn thy Face towards Me and lift up the Light of Thy Countenance upon Me to succour Me and to impart unto Me every day more and more of that Rich Treasure which thou hast provided for Me. V upon the Priest's turning back again and Praying Oratio HAving breath'd forth this Benediction over the People He turns him to Jesus Christ again 1. to the Altar to present to Him some Prayers as the time requires one or more for Confirmation of That Blessing and humbly to testifie his Dependance on him as not being any thing but his Instrument nor able to confer on others the least good but only by way of Humble Petition to his Divine Majesty DEVOTION ENable me to Pray without Ceasing as thy Scriptures Command me since in this Life thou bestowest Nothing upon Us for our good but by being Petition'd first Let me then still be putting up Requests unto Thee often Re-inforcing the Old and Multiplying as Thy Priest at the Altar does New upon every important occasion At the Reading the Epistle NExt is read The Epistle taken sometimes out of the New Testament Sometimes out of the Old This puts me in mind of that Notice which was all along given To the Jews of the Coming of their Messias first by the Prophets fore-told and then exhibited to them by St. John and the Apostles And for this reason I think 't is read on that Corner of the Altar which is on the Priest's Right-hand because the Jews were a Nation chiefly Belov'd of God and at first his chosen People to whom he entrusted his Oracles DEVOTION I Do not a little Wonder at Thy Constant and Vntyr'd Love to the Jews who were the Only People whom Thy Prophets were sent to Save to whom Thou thy Self cam'st and Preached'st the Gospel And though not the Only yet the First to whom Thy Apostles declar'd Thy Resurrection Thy Resurrection A point of such moment that to Represent It the more Lively The Priest who sustains the Person of Thee Risen throughout the Whole Mass even in the Act of Sacrificing and Oblation Celebrates all Standing O my God Permit not Me to Slight Thy Holy Word or to Undervalue its Preachers who come to Vs in Thy Name and on thy Errand As that Stiff-necked Hard-hearted and Rebellious People have rejected the Addresses of the Prophets and Apostles Thy Servants nay of Thy Son Christ Jesus himself Let not thy Holy Commands be a New Occasion and Aggravation of Sin to Me as to Them It was but Improve them to Me into True Gospel and Words of Salvation by Inspiriting me to do That which Thy Law injoyneth and not suffering my Sinful Inclinations to Quench this Spirit and Evacuate Thy Grace Gradual and Alleluja or Tractus Immediately after the Epistle read succeeds the Gradual with either Alleluja or the Tractus IF with the Alleluja I apprehend that thereby Priest and People joyn in Acclamations of Praise and Thanks to God as It were in lieu and Supplement for the Jews Ingratitude Infidelity and great neglect of the Gospel as if therefore by way of Reparation we would shew our selves the more zealous and by certain Degrees of Versicles and Benedictions raise our selves to be more Attentive to what they slighted Or if in the place of Alleluja a Tractus be annex'd which being a Mournful Ditty therefore appointed for days of Penitence and Sorrow and to be read more Gravely and drawn out more leasurely and Sadly We are admonish'd thereby to compose our selves to ask Pardon of God for Those Sins which we also no less than the Jews have committed in our Great Neglect of the Gospel and to look on our selves as partakers of their Guilt and to be Penitent for It. DEVOTION LEt Thy Goodness prevent me from such Jewish Ingratitude and more Now I have received from thee so many more and Greater Favours than They. As particularly The Light of the Gospel the Grace of Baptism and then a greater Portion of Thy Holy Spirit Confirming Me and Even Thine Own Body and Blood for Nourishment Be It the Business to

take up All my Thoughts All my Life long To weigh the Greatness and Variety of Thy Mercies And may Nothing in the World have such Power as to make me pass by inconsiderately much less to forget the least The Tractus DEVOTION I Fall down before Thee O dear Father with Shame and great Confusion of Face calling to Mind Those Sins which I have committed particularly against the Precepts of thy Gospel which Gospel I though I refus'd not with the Jews but entertain'd it with Protestation to Live according to it and if need were to Die for It yet have violated frequently by Great and Enormous Crimes being so much less excusable than They into how much stricter an Oblation I enter'd into I have Cause enough to fear O my God that Thou shouldst Abandon Me too at last as Thou hast for saken Them because having contracted a deeper Guilt than They 't is but Reason I should be more severely punish'd To provide against such a mischief in Time I now beg of Thee The Spirit of Repentance which I beseech Thee to Give and continue to Me to my last gasp whereby to Expiate my grievous Faults and to put me again into the Quality of a True Christian For the Spirit of Repentance It is which is the very Beginning of Christianity and most Proper Condition of the New Law delivering us from the Sins and consequently from the sad Effects of the Old which is according to the Apostle the Law of Wrath and Death and working out of us by degrees still more what yet it finds in us as Relicks of the Flests of Judaism or of base Earthliness Vpon the removing the Book UPon this Action my Consideration is That The Jews refusing to Hear and understand aright the Prophets and Apostles were at length Neglected and the Apostles turn'd unto the Gentiles bringing The Gospel and the News of a Saviour to Them which is now represented by changing the place of the Book from the Right Hand of the Priest to the Left denoting that Christ had now left the Jews who before were the people of His Right-Hand and that in their stead The Heathens at His Left that is abandon'd heretofore to the Curse of God and not His people were now made his people and dearly Belov'd and That among Us it is that Jesus Christ now keeps Residence and Establishes His Church Here is made indeed No intimation at all that the Gospel was ever Preach'd to the Jews though to them it was Preach'd first and here is something betokening as if Christ had Preach'd It to the Gentiles which yet he never did But the Reason of Both is First That That is omitted because that Preaching of it to the Jews was so In-effectual and Fruitless as not considerable especially in respect what Glorious Entertainment It had afterward among the Gentiles in the full Explication and vigour of It as of a New Law And Secondly That This is solely insisted on Because though Christ Preach'd not Himself in person to the Gentiles but only by his Apostles Ministers yet was It in so wonderful Success and Communication of Grace and Benediction and Reformation of Manners the True Fruits of the Gospel that Now only among these seems He to have fully Exercis'd his Office of an Evangelical Preacher now only indeed to have promulgated the Law of Grace in the quickening Spirit as oppos'd to That of the Jews in the Killing Letter DEVOTION NEver O Lord take away The Grace thou hast Given from Me to Confer It on Another as in thy Justice Thou hast remov'd Thy Gospel from the Jew to the Gentile Let Thy Gifts in me be without Repentance as Thy Scripture speaks Make me ever Remember That saying of St. John * 3 Apoc. 11 a Figure of Thy Elect Take heed Hold fast That which Thou hast that no man take Thy Crown Let me not be Tempted to prize my self as more Worthy than such Offenders whom thou hast not favour'd as Thou hast done Me least I come under that Curse and Malediction wherewith Thy Apostle Threatens the Gentiles 11 Rom. 20 21 22. if they arrogantly insult over the Jews whom Thou hast rejected Transplant Me Out of those Countries of the World where Thou art not duly Worshipped into some Holy Land Exempt from its Malignity and Corruption where I may serve Thee more freely and more Faithfully Make me comprehend the force of those words of the Apostle Exhorting Vs to follow Thee On the Right-hand and on the Left that at all turns Of Adversity and Prosperity Health and Sickness Life and Death I may cleave to Thee unseparably The Gospel THe Book being remov'd to the Left-hand of the Priest To shew as I have said the publication of the Gospel of Jesus Christ now to those on his Left-hand That were his Enemies the Gentiles After some preparation by 1. Particular Prayers for Assistance 2. And Benediction 3. He Crosses the Book and Himself 4. And Names the part he intends to Read 5. The People stand up and Answer Gloria tibi Domine and in that posture continue during the Reading 6. Testify not only their readiness to Hear but also to put in Execution whatever is therein propos'd 7. The Gospel being read the people give again their Approbation 8. With Laus tibi Christe and the Priest saying 9. Per Evangelica Dicta c. Kisseth It. All testifying a high respect to the Gospel The Book continues in that same place almost to the end of the Mass Intimating thereby the continuation of the Gospel among the Gentiles only to almost the end of the World DEVOTION GIve me the Grace to understand and take the Words of Thy H. Gospel as one of thy Faithful Ones that is As a Man ready to do as It says and to practice suitably to what he Professes to Believe Make Me Stand always firm and Erected above All that otherwise might be Impediments to my Ready Obedience Hearing thy Voice as a Friend of the Bridegrooms and joying in nothing so much as rightly to Understand Thy Will and fully to Accomplish It. Let My Spirit Kiss Thee as at the End of the Gospel the Priest does the Book thereby in all Holy Reverence to Adore Thee after I have gotten a glimpse of Thee by that Light which thou hast Now been pleas'd to dart into Me from Thy Words Make me always keep thus Close unto Thee and continue in this Union with Thee which certainly I Owe unto Thee as to One that hath the Words of Eternal Life and Art the very Soul of the Gospel O whither should I go from Thee Never let any Occurrence in this Life never any danger that any Enemy of mine may engage me in be able to separate Me from my Obedience to Thee It is in This preparation of Heart for whatsoever Thou shalt Command Me be the Consequencce what It will that I desire to lay the Foundation of all my Piety and Devotion At the Credo

it may conduce toward the Expiation of All my Sins known and unknown and what other Obliquities are hourly occasion'd by my frail and Infirm Nature And since I cannot be totally exempt from These unless by death which is the only sure-End of all Offending Grant that to Cancel their account as fast as It grows upon me I may offer up and Consecrate to Thee sincerely All the short Remainder of this Life and then pass so much the more Joyfully into the next as where I shall be secur'd from discontenting Thee any longer Of the Mixture of Water and Wine THis puts me in mind of the Union of the Divinty and Humanity in the Person of Jesus Christ and then of the Unity of all the Faithful well denoted by Water a Symbol of Weakness which Jesus Christ well typify'd by Wine an Emblem of strength And as the Priest Offer'd up The Bread before so now he makes 1. Oblation of the Wine and Water and in Them again of the People to God The Suscipiamur 2. And lastly Oblation Generalis ● He makes the First General Oblation of All Bread Wine Himself and People altogether jointly with Humility and Contrition into the Hands of God and thereby Sanctifies and Prepares the whole matter of this Sacrifice DEVOTION O Strengthen my Weakness represented by this Water with a new Force and Virtue of Thy Spirit which is the Muste or New Wine of the Law of Grace Make me depend on Nothing nor cleave to any Thing but Thee since Thou alone art the Power of God and Vigorous Life of the Soul in whose Absence the strongest Activity in Man is but miserable Infirmity And as now The Priest presents to Thee the Chalice thereby to Sanctifie It before He proceed to Its Consecration so help Me O Lord to Offer up my Self to Thee Fortified and Heighten'd by Thy Blessing and Grace by which I may be Encourag'd and Enflam'd and so make my self every time more and more capable to be Offer'd up in Sacrifice to Thee and even to Die for Thee Which is really the Greatest Favour that thou canst do any Mau during His Abode here Washing of the Priest's Hands THis meaneth Repentance for the daily Pollutions we incurr by our Frailty For there 's no approaching This Holy Sacrifice without renouncing and quitting as much as is possible such Impurities by a sincere Grief for and loathing of them though but Sins of Infirmity Hence It is that the Priest Washeth only the Tops of his Fingers To signifie that when one comes to Offer this Sacrifice 't is no time then to set about Repentance for Mortal Sins such one should have been freed and purg'd from before but all that is to be done is only to Wash off yet by unfeigned Grief and true Compunction those lesser Impurities and Defilements which in the course of this Life and by Conversation with things of this World we cannot avoid but that they will be sticking at least to the Outward parts as it were of our Souls and to the Works of our Hands But those that willingly neglect to Purify themselves from these though never so small Imperfections are unworthy of this Sacrament saith St. Denis as on the contrary The greatest Sins and Abominations that be cannot render those unworthy of approaching to It who have dis-engag'd their Wills from them and truly detest them in their Hearts DEVOTION SVffer not O my God the Pollutions of this World so to Defile My Hands that is My Actions as that they should contract any store of Filth from It but since 't is impossible to Converse here in this Earthly Habitation cleanly without All Sullying Grant that at most The Spots may but arrive to the outmost and lesser parts of Them as It were to the very Tops of the Fingers only A Petition suggested to me by the Priests Washing His. First Possess my Heart intirely and at all times and then let my Actions regard Thee too as their Principal Object and if secondarily in their Out-sides and parts farthest off They touch the fouling Earth Let me never cease Washing them with Tears of True Repentance and in the Water and Grace of Thy Holy Spirit till They be again Purify'd Especially as often as I come before Thee to partake of the Communion of Thy Blessed Body and to assist at That most Holy Sacrifice to which it would become Vs to approach in the greatest Purity Man in this Life can be capable of Because It is a darker Vision of God and some Representation of our Imployment in Heaven whither no Unclean Thing can Enter Vpon the Suscipe Sancta Trinitas The Kissing the Alar and Orate Fratres and the Secreta Suscipe Sancta Trinitas THe Priest having put himself into This Purity of Body and Mind with most profound Humility makes a Second General Oblation of all Oblation Generalis 2 1. Directing it to the proper Object of Worship The Holy and Blessed Trinity And 2. Applying it to the right End Of Commemoration of the Passion Resurrection and Ascention of Jesus Christ Of Honour to all the Glorify'd Saints in the Church Triumphant and of Salvation to all yet in the Militant by their Intercession implor'd 3. Kisses the Altar Orate Fratres THe Priest having already implor'd the Intercession of the Glorious Saints above for the things specify'd and particularly for that Acceptance of This Oblation and Sacrifice Now turns himself to the People desiring them to Joyn their Prayers to the same End DEVOTION DErive into me O Lord That Grace which the Priest Receives upon the Kissing of the Altar that stands in stead of Thee that assisted by It I may bear a part in That Common Prayer which He now Exhorts all the Faithful to joyn in with Him To Supplicate Thee favourably to Receive The Sacrifice He is here going to Offer unto Thee in the Behalf of the whole Church And do it the rather for the Honour of those Great Mysteries and Those Holy Saints which he hath just now made particular Commemoration of on purpose to teach us the Value of this Extraordinary Act of Grace by the Greatness of the Means imploy'd to obtain It. Agitate now in the Strictest Closet of my Soul by the means of this other Prayer which the Church calls Secret and produce therein the proper Effects of those good Thoughts which Thou hast been pleas'd to form in Me to Prepare me the better for this Sacrifice The Preface SO call'd because 't is the Entry to the Canon of the Mass and the last Immediate Preparation-general to the Sacrifice For here the Priest endeavours to prepare the People by putting them in mind 1. Of raising up their Heart in Devotion to God and taking It off from all Thoughts or Inclinations to any thing here below That they begin this Sacrifice of Offering up Christ to His Father by first Offering up their own Hearts which must be still the Anti-Sacrifice to all others or else they