Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	body_n	bone_n	flesh_n	7,585	5	7.4908	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13320	A myrror for Martinists, and all other schismatiques, which in these dangerous daies doe breake the godlie vnitie, and disturbe the Christian peace of the Church. Published by T.T.	Nash, Thomas, 1567-1601, attributed name.; T. T., fl. 1590.	1590 (1590)	STC 23628; ESTC S118084	30,611	40

bodie of the flesh and of the bones of Christ that we be most néerely conioyned vnto him and the giftes which we haue bee deriued vnto vs by God through the flesh of Christ giuen for our sake vppon the crosse and so by the flesh of Christ we be coupled and vnited to God And in the Gospel of Saint Iohn Christ praieth thus for his Church Cause you that they may be one euen as I am in thée and thou art in me The vnitie of the Church therfore by the places alleadged consisteth in the spirit in the word of God in the Sacraments in a most néere bond with Christ who is the head of all the members of the Church This vnitie we must by no meanes breake but first séeke all the waies that possible we can to make the same safe and sound Bernard an ancient Father of the Church saith that neyther praier sacrifice nor anie thing else pleaseth God better then our concord and vnitie and that nothing grieueth the deuill more then that we should liue in vnitie For if we fast saith he the deuill seareth it not because he neuer eateth if we watch he careth not because he neuer sleepeth if we praie he regardeth it not because he neuer praieth but that we should be in vnitie it displeaseth him because we being men and on the earth should doe that which hée could not doe being an Angell in heauen Wee knowe it now by experience that Fratrum odia acerbissima and that inimici hominis domestici eius that the hatred of brethren is most grieuous and that a mans enemies shall be they of his owne housholde The Church of God neuer receiued more detriment by the tyrannie of papists then she hath and doth dailie by the cruell hatreds of false and dissembling brethren If therefore ye intend to be citizens of that heauenly Ierusalē Subtraite vos ab omni frate ambulante inordinatè Withdrawe your selues from euerie brother that walketh inordinatly and vnderstand that the earthly Ierusalem is builded as a citie that is at vnitie in it selfe Of the Primitiue Church it is said that they continued with one accord in praier and the multitude of them that beléeued were of one heart and of one soule If ye wil abide in this vnity then must ye be alwaies constant in the truth and not depend vpon men For through inconstancy the peace of the church which is the bond of vnitie is many times broken when as our affections and likings of men is such that therafter as ye loue thē so ye like their doctrine For ye regard the messenger and not his message ye looke vpon the earthen vessell and not vpon the heauenly treasure therein contained And hereof it commeth to passe that ye doe contemne and despise not onely wholsome doctrine but also the minister and preacher thereof and then commeth such a nicenes and choice liking of some that at the last followeth also an vtter loathing of others whom before ye greatly liked Thus hath the common multitude alwayes behaued thēselues towards the ministers of the Gospell Yea thus was our sauiour Christ himselfe handled among the Iewes who one while would néeds make him a king and anon after was ready to kill him one while they called him Rabbi and another while a Samaritan saying that he had the deuill they which once loued his doctrine sayd afterward this is a hard saying And as Christ himselfe so also were Apostles rewarded at their auditors hands and no meruaile for the disciple is not aboue his master It is inough for the disciple if he be as his master is Therefore Iohn the Baptist had such estimation for a while when he first began to preach the Gospell that he was taken of most men for the Messiah yet stood he not long before he lost his head When Paul Barnabas had wrought that notable myracle vpon y e lame man the people were blindly carried with such inconsiderate zeale that in all hast they would haue done sacrifice vnto them as vnto God but in a moment this hot zeale was so cold towards Saint Paul that they stoned him almost for dead The same Apostle was of the Galathians also reputed for an Angell of God insomuch that if it had bin possible they would haue pluckt out their owne eies for him to do him good but afterward they tooke him for no better then their enemie And why Forsooth because hee preached vnto them the truth Consider and sée if the verie like inconstancie and far worse if worse may be hath not bin among you In the beginning of her Maiesties most happie raigne you had those learned and graue fathers in great estimation which during the time of Quéene Mary suffered exile for the testimony of the gospel some in Geneua some in Frankford and some other in other partes of Germanie and at their first returne to the Church of Englande beeing placed by her Maiestie in the roomes of greatest charge in the Church as tried and approued men that had borne the whole heate and burthen of the daie ye estéemed of them worthily ye were very glad to sée and heare them ye embraced theyr most wholsome doctrine and so ye begun to runne wel in a good course but ye persisted not ye were soone wearie of your olde men and yee must needes haue new and I feare me that this propheticall saying of the Apostle is verified vpon many of you The time will come when they wil not suffer wholsome doctrine but hauing their eares itching shall after theyr own lusts get them a heape of teachers and shall turne theyr eares from the truth and shall be giuen vnto fables Be not carried about with euery winde and goe not into euery way for so sayth the wise man doth the sinner that hath a double tongue Such double walking and such dissembling talking will at the last and that ere it be long cause greater diuision and contention among you to the wofull ruine of vs all if it be not amended betimes And if we goe forwarde in discorde and bitter contentions as we haue hetherto done it is greatly to be feared least GOD haue appointed and ordayned that same agaynst vs which in time past he did in the raignes of Dioclesian and Maximian the Emperors when as there were like strifes and contentions in the Church as notably appeareth in the Ecclesiasticall historie written by Eusebius the effect of which history is diligently to be marked for this cause to wit for that in those daies the Church of Christ flourished But the people were vnthankful vnto God and impenitent and the ministers of the Church were ambitious and stirred vp grieuous and hot contentions among themselues Wherefore God being angry with them gaue them into the hands of tyrants who raised vp greater persecutions agaynst the Church then euer was heard of before For thus writeth Eusebius

soules in the other is the saluation of the whole Church The place is pregnant And Saint Augustine proueth that schisme offended God more then idolatrie because it was more grieuously punished as in Chore Dathan Abiram who were schismatiques then in Aaron and them that worshipped the golden calfe who were idolaters The greater punishment most commonly is a token of the greater sinne Also the danger is greater which groweth by conuersing with schismatiques and heretiques then with Painims idolaters which Augustine noteth verie well in these words handling the Psal. 54. Ab his qui longe sunt a me facilis cautio est Non enim me tā cito fallit qui dicit veni Idolum adore multū a me iste longe est Christianus es Christianus inquit ex propinque aduersatur prope est redime Domini pace animam meam ab his qui appropinquant mihi I can easily beware of them that are far off from me He doth not so soone deceiue me that saith come worship an Idoll he is verie far off from me but I saie to another Art thou a Christian Yea forsooth a Christian saith he This fellow standeth néere me and may quickly ouerthrow me Redéeme and deliuer my soule O Lord from them that after this sorte approch and come néere vnto me And Saint Cyprian saith Non aperta tantum periculia metuenda sunt facilior cautior est vbi manifestier formido est plus cauendus est inimicus qui latentur obripit c. It is a most dangerous thing to be separated by anie occasion from the true Church the which God be thāked may be so plainly séene at this day in this realme of England that no man can doubt of it And yet very many haue bin carried awaie from the same through the blasts of false doctrine and some without anie cause haue too too rashly diuorced themselues what color of reformation so euer they haue pretended The Corinthians were very much diuided among themselues one woulde be of Paul another of Cephas another of Apollo and so they attributed as much to theyr Ministers as vnto Christ. They brought their strifes and contentions to the iudgement seate of Ethnikes they suffered an incestuous man who had the wife of his Father to be conuersant among them they thought not whooredome to be sinne they did euery where eate with the Painims of things offered vnto idols they celebrated the supper of the Lord with vnquietnes of minde they abused the gift of tongues neither did they iudge trulie and godlie of the resurrection These were no doubt grieuous blemishes yet notwithstanding Paul did not forsake the Church of Corinth Neuertheles some men can as they thinke with a safe conscience condemne this our most Christian Church both by speaking and writing against it and also by cutting off themselues frō the same gathering themselues together into corners and in secret conuenticles as the Family of Loue the Brownists the Martinists and others like vnto them Such were in olde time theyr predecessors the Donatists who in comparison of thēselues condemned all other Christians They released theyr owne crue from the seueritie of the censure and yet in theyr congregation suffered most impure men namely the Optatians the Gildonians and the Primians Be not ye like vnto those men abstain from theyr companies refraine theyr assemblies frequent not theyr sermons reade not theyr libels defend not theyr opinions but rather detest them By reading hereticall bookes many learned men haue yéelded to error and may not ignorant men much sooner Dionysius Alexandrinus a most learned and vertuous Bishop confesseth to a friend of his that he felt himself much the worse by reading of euil bookes If ye shall presume vpon your constancie knowledge that there can insue no danger Qui stat videat ne cadat Let him that standeth take héed least he fall Yea know he that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith and the wise man saith Qui dormit iuxta sepem mordebit eum coluber He that sleepeth by a hedges side shall be bitten of a snake Euill wordes corrupt good manners so doth euill companie to Furthermore my brethren take heed of self-liking of arrogancie of singularitie and of contempt of wholsome doctrine deliuered by this Church for these are the deuils cordes by which he draweth men at the last into horrible heresies fearfull examples wherof there haue bene too many of late within this lande especiallie in the Countie of Suffolke where sundrie persons within these three or foure yeres both men and women beginning first to bee so singular that they controlled the Ecclesiasticall gouernment present state of the Church fell at the last yet further became plaine Anabaptists denying flatly the power and office of magistrates not staying here fell yet more horriblie into greater wickednesse namely into the heresie of the Arrians most blasphemously denying the Godhead of Christ Iesus For the which most detestable heresies three of them being by the deuill obdurated in their wickednesse namely Lewes Cole and Ket were burned at Norwich and some others of them abiured their heresies openly in the town of Ipswich Let these fearefull examples brethren moue you to beware of contempt of wholsome doctrine and of singularitie and so many of you in whom there resteth as yet such heart burning and diuision about things of no moment as if in religion we were vtterly sundered one from another and had no point of faith at all that were common betwixt vs I doe humblie beseech for Christes sake and of the peace of his Church whereof you professe your selues to bee members that with all speed you returne vnto that vnitie againe from whence ye are most dangerouslie fallen Amemus Dominum Deum nostrum c. Let vs loue the Lord our God saith S. Augustine and loue we his Church also him as our Father and the Church as our mother this matrimony is conioyned with singular loue no man offendeth she one and hath the fauour of the other The Epharamites were of the people of God and yet reuolted awaie from the lawe though still they held after a sorte the profession thereof and hauing so done they so continued a long time after as a wanton vntamed and vnrulie heifer notwithstanding al the warnings that God by his Prophets did giue vnto thē But yet it is recorded of them that at the length they returned againe smiting vpon the thigh and acknowledging that they had committed many shameful things If now with Ephraim ye haue so erred and stept aside pittie it were but that ye should be as ready with him to repent and returne againe Remember what S. Paul writeth to the Ephesians Be ye careful to keep the vnitie of the spirit through the bond of peace Againe One Lorde one Faith one Baptisme one God the Father of all which is aboue all through all and in all Hee saith also that we bée one