Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	abide_v	able_a	doctrine_n	49	3	5.8183	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A08566	The fiue bookes of the famous, learned, and eloquent man, Hieronimus Osorius, contayninge a discourse of ciuill, and Christian nobilitie A worke no lesse pleasaunt then profitable for all, but especiallye the noble gentlemen of England, to vievv their liues, their estates, and conditions in. Translated out of Latine into Englishe by VVilliam Blandie late of the Vniuersitie of Oxeford, and novv fellovv of the middle Temple in London.; De nobilitate civili et christiana. English	Osório, Jerónimo, 1506-1580.; Blandie, William.	1576 (1576)	STC 18886; ESTC S113632	145,792	234

called wyth whom I haue to deale may not deeme in any wyse worthy of contempt because they had no knowledge of true relligion which he in no wyse woulde haue to be magnifyed and were notwithstandinge partakers of trayterous attemptes the meanes of descryinge whereof hee supposeth worthye of great commendation But how obscure is their constācie if it be compared with the valiaunt courage and magnanimitie of Christian men For if you respecte the cause they for hate of the tyraunts by whom they were annoyed paciently endured theyr cruell punishments our men for the loue of Christe of whom they had receyued wonderfull benefits thought all tormentes easye and tollerable If you weighe the exceedinge greatnes of the tormente the continuance thereof you shall finde them not common and vsuall as theyrs were but new and straunge tortures were deuised for Christians which as longe as might be moughte teare their liue bodies and wonderfully beate and bruse them Furthermore they when they were driuen to extreeme miserye and state of desperation seemed outwardlye to beare an externall shewe of their former worthines and hauty minde Christians when they had free election to accepte that they best liked of yet not with vnwilling minds they exchaunged a glorious and honourable death wyth a lyfe stayned wyth ignomye and shame If you regarde the nomber it is a ridiculous thing to set an infinite nomber against a very fewe Dost thou then despyse this holsome discipline oute of which hath bin yelded so manye notable and worthy examples of vertue Canst thou constantly affirme that the mindes of men are induced to thinke beastly and abiectly of themselues by this doctryne which hath with stoutnes far beyonde mannes creditte armed the tender nature of womē and the feeble age of childred whiche hath stirren vppe so great a multitude to an ernest desire of prayse and glorye What peruerse ouerthwart perswasiō of mind is this that thou shouldest haue in admiration the vayn shadow of vertue and shouldest suppose true vertue worthy of no estimation at all But no doubte herehence procedeth this great erroure Thou doste beholde onely the externall forme of the Crosse of afliction that excellente vertue that vnder the forme of the crosse lieth hidden thou dost not beholde For the dull capacity of a simple vnderstandinge ouerwhelmed wyth darknes and with filth defiled is not able to abyde the bryghtenes of so cleare a lighte For the doctryne of Chryste as Paule saythe seemeth to wicked and desperate persons to haue a shew of ignorāce and to muche humilitye But to them that are of a milde spirite and confirmed with the grace of God it sheweth a fullnes of heauenly wisedome and most excellent vertue For euen as in the personne of Chryst all men beeholde that face wherin as it was by the prophesie of Esaie foretolde there was no forced bewtye nor semelines and yet all men sawe not the glory of that diuine nature which Iohn beheld euen so manie through the lyke blyndes and wante of vnderstandinge contemne the lyfe of Christians voide of al wordlye pompe and are by no means able to beholde the excellent brightnes of Christian nobility BVt as concerning the Romain Empyre that we may say some thinge thereof albeit it semeth a thing far frō our intent and purpose hath not this fine fellow which is so expert in all matters of pollecie reade in most learned wryters that euen Cities themselues haue their chāges and courses and that all comonwelthes do as it were by the course of nature rise and fal Neyther that it is possible that any thing vnder the Moone should be immortall and contynewe for euer All thynges as they haue a beegynnynge soe necessarye it ys that they shoulde ones decay and through the cruelty of death dispatchinge euerye thynge perishe and come to nothinge For how manye Cityes how many countryes and nations are beaten flat to the grounde and couered with moolde whiche long agoe most of all florished both by reason of their farr stretched Empyre and glory and renoomne purchased by famous and noble actes who hath ouerthrowen the dominions of the Assirians and Persians who hath wasted the wealth of the Athenians who hath abrydged the power pompe of the Macedonians Truely no other thinge can be alleaged as cause thereof but the natural course of the worlde then the which nothinge is more britle and vncertain For if Cirns had not vtterly extinguished the Assirians Empire if Alexāder had not as it were crushed in peces the power of the Persians if the Macedonians al Greece by the warres of the Romaynes had not beene vtterlye vanquished yet notwithstandinge it muste be graunted of necessitye that al these Empyres shauld haue bene destroyed with some other power or declyninge with age at last shoulde haue perished and decayed Wherefore it falleth oute that no wyse man doth wonder at the vtter subuersions and destruttions of common wealthes and on the contrary part they thinke nothing so worthy admiration as the continuāce of a City established indued with great principallityes And therfore they suppose the question is rather to be asked why Sparta so many yeares continued in the selfe same maner of gouernmente and in the selfe same order of disciplyne then why the glorye and wealth of the Athenians so soone decayed And this also is soe much the more wonderful in the Romaines cōmon wealth by howe mutch more this Cittye excelled all other that euer were in worthines both of glory and dominion For many thinges easelye beare vp themselues but the highest thinges by their owne peyse waight are come in sunder and fall doune to the grounde Therefore wheras this fareth it with all Cityes and countryes that no wyse mā wondereth at their fall but thinketh the cause of their longe continuance with greate studie to bee considered of as a thing very incredible This man well skilled as he himselfe thinketh in ciuill pollicie lamenteth the decaye and ruinous fall of Rome and as thoughe it shoulde haue beene perpetuall excepte it had beene hindered by the religion of Chryste hee argueth of cryme the sonne of God himselfe O thou man in madnes exceedinge all other dost thou aske what other thing hath decayed the welth of the Romayne Empyre First I answere that as that Citye was happely erected then grue to a more parfecte state and by noble actes florished thē confirmed with lawes and ordinaunces came to a perfecte rypenes of Dominiō and was wonderfully aduaunced so was it necessary that it now yeelding to stooping olde age should at the length haue as it weere a laste daye to liue in and shoulde feele the heauy strok of the hand of death Furthermore this I affirme that all those good meanes by the which the Empyre was first established by the which it moughte haue beene mayntained in the same estate long before the birth of Chryste was lost and oute of their handes Canste thou in any wyse thinke