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	holy_a	soul_n	16,669	5	5.2335	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68585	A dialogue of dying wel. First written in the Italian tongue, by the reuerend father Don Peeter of Luca, a chanon regular, a Doctor of Diuinitie and famous preacher. VVherin is also contayned sundry profitable resolutions, vpon some doubtful questions in diuinitie. Translated first into French, and novv into English; Dottrina del ben morire. English	[Pietro da Lucca].; Verstegan, Richard, ca. 1550-1640.	1603 (1603)	STC 19815; ESTC S114608	35,811	112

rule Hebr. 5. THE fourth and last rule obserued of our Sauiour in his passage was that as S. Paule saith Cum clamore valido lachrymis preces offerens exauditus est pro sua reuerentia that is to say offering vp his prayers with a loud cry and teares he was heard for his reuerence sake And the text of the holy gospel saith that our lord hauing cryed with a loud voyce and recomended his soule to his heauenly Father saying Luc. 23. Father into thy handes I commend my spirit yeelded vp his ghoste leauing the bodie without the soule wherevpon is gathered that our Sauiour hath done three things in this last rule First hee cryed with a loud voyce secondly hee wept thirdly hee commended his soule to his Father and then his blessed soule departed from his precious and holy bodie All these thinges ought the sick man to doe that is vpon his last passage and in the agonie of death So that after he hath caused his parents and frendes to retyre hauing taken his leaue of them hee shal first think vpon the state of his conscience and then call vpon almighty God not with a loud voyce but with deep and profound sighes from the bottome of his hart crauing pardon with moste sorrowful teares and intyre contrition of his creator for all his sinnes and offences comitted against his diuyne maiesty let him repent himself of euerie sinne he hath comitted and with sorowful hart aske mercie of almightie God for euerie smal negligence bitterly also lamenting for euerie litle losse of tyme and requiring helpe of our blessed Ladie and all the saintes oftentymes let him say In manus tuas Domine commendo spiritum meum that is into thy handes o Lord I commend my spirit The which woordes the diuynes think to be of verie great vertue And so by meanes of thease preparations beeing filled with good and holy desires thow shalt come to a happy passage of death and finally rēder thy body to the earth and thy soule to thy creator with whome thow shalt liue eternally When the young Merchāt had heard all these rules hee said to the Ermyte I cannot expresse with my tongue how much your profitable wordes haue bene acceptable vnto mee Surelie ye haue made me know thinges which I shal neuer forget yea more then that I shal endeuour my self through the grace of God with all possible diligence to put in practise and execution all thease 12. golden rules of the arte to dy wel which ye haue declared vnto mee in the precedent chapters But I beseech yow seeing wee be in this talk of death that ye wil answere to certayne doubtes of myne according to your learning the opinion of the sacred diuynes and as ye shal be illumined by the holy Ghoste The Ermite answered that hee was verie wel contented so that hee did not seek to know them of a vaine curiositie The Merchant said I desire to be resolued of certayne doubtes of which the resolutions and declarations shal be to all men prontable and pleasing for their are none which ought not to des re and vnderstand such doctrine because death is common to all and therefore ought euerie one willingly to talk and reason there of The Ermite then said my sonne it is conuenient wee sit downe because my great age requireth some rest as also because when wee sit and repose our selues the spirits wil be better disposed to conceyue and more apt to vnderstād the answere and resolution to thy demaundes Begin then and propound in few woordes thy doubtes the Merchāt then they beeing set downe began to make his demaundes as followeth The first ●●estion I Demaund in the first place yf wee be all bound to desire death The Ermite answered that in respect of the appetite or desire sensitiue wee be not bound but contrarie it is in respect of the appetite or desire resonable voluntarie and free vnder which the appetite sensitiue ought to be both subiect gouerned The reason heerof is for that according to the opinion of the diuynes wee be bound to leaue our owne lyfe and to accept death for the certayne sure saluation of our neighbour much more then be wee bound to this charitie for our owne saluation the which wee know for certayne cannot be had ordinarily yf first wee dy not And wee beeing bound to desire this last and eternal felicity wee are consequently bound to desire all the meanes necessarie to the attayning thereof And for not desiring of death with reason as aforesaid many Christians are dāned which yf they might would choose to liue in this miserable world for euer would say to almightie God keep thow thy heauen for thy self for I care not for it it sufficeth mee to liue heer with my freindes and kindred Wherefore it is a thing manifest and playne that such men loue not God And they haue not charitie seeing they neuer care to see his face wherein consisteth all our true and chiefest blisse And thus by this answere the Merchant was thorowlie satisfied and hee said this was a good poynt woorthy to bee wel considered of many worldlings which are perswaded they are not bound to desire death alleaging that the religious and perfect men be they which are bound to desire death and in no wyse seculer and wordly men But without all doubt they be deceyued for wee are there vnto all bound indifferentlie The second question THE second question was whether wee ought to haue an ill opinion of those that dy vnwillingly The Ermite answered saying my sonne take heed to my woordes for in this place I wil tel thee another point which as I think is of very few vnderstood Assure thy self it is not lawful to desire long lyfe except it bee to make some spiritual fruit eyther in himself or others where-fore when-soeuer a sickman dyeth vnwillingly and that hee desireth the prolonging of hi● lyfe principally to other end then to do spiritual good eyther in himself or in others I say that in this case hee sinneth greatly my reason is for that yf hee had the vertues of hope and charitie hee would more desire to bee ioyned with his God then any other thing that is not in any sorte giuen or ordayned to that end that is the coniunction and vnion with the soueraigne good It is needful then to satisfy thy demaund with a distinction wherefore I say vnto thee when a sick man dyeth vnwillingly to the end hee would abyde in this world to ioy and triumphe not to the end to amend his lyfe nor yet to help others of such an one a man cannot but haue a sinister and il opinion because it is a signe hee hath not charitie toward his creator But when the sick person desireth his lyfe may bee prolonged to do penance for his sinnes or to haue tyme to merit more or to come more in Gods fauour or els to help others after the

comest to mee lyke a traytor with deceytes laying wayt for my lyf I feel thow byndest mee hand and foot and by thy cruel forces suddaynlie bound and taken I see I am drawne as a thief and malefactor to the miserable punishment of myne end seeking ayd in so great sorrow and payne I finde no help nor succour neyther of riches nor of freinds nor yet of kynsfolkes why the hower appoynted of God is comme I must needs go and I know not whether I depart from this world that I loue so wel I leaue all my worldlie goodes and my worldlie felicitie greatly against my wil and so weeping and howling without hope of Gods help I was of cruel death preuented and in a moment lost all my prosperitie the wreched soule was assigned to the euerlasting paynes of hel and my corruptible bodie lost all his beautie and became loth some and stinking the food of wormes This sinner with this head made many other long discourses and had many imagined speaches ful of compunction and verie profitable to him that desireth to dy wel the which did in such wise imprint in his mynd the remembrance of death as thereby hee profited greatly in the way of saluation for he thought that all the miseries aboue mentioned hee might proue in himself yf hee should not against the hower of death be wel prepared But to be short I leaue this second mean and come to the third the which is yet of much more effect then eyther the first or the second The reason whereof may easilie be comprehended for in the first the miserable paines and anguishes of death are heard with the eares in the second they be as it weer seene with the eyes but in the third wee feel them in our selues The hearing surely doth moue much the seeing doth yet moue more but the feeling farre more moueth then either of the other Yf then the first and second mean to meditate vpon death do not moue thee take the third which is practised in this manner Imagine with all the forces of thy mynd that thow art presentlie in that last sicknes in which thow shalt be compelled to passe from this lyfe to another and thow shalt transforme into thee all those accidents which in that hower may happen thee and make them with thy mynde present vnto thee intentiuelie considering all the anguishes sorrowes and paynes of that heauie doleful tyme as though now presentlie thow wearest in the verie agonie of death and think thereon not as it shal come but as yf euen now at this instant thow didest feel in thy self the verie paynes and agonie thereof with thy thought then and with thyne imagination thow shalt suppose that thow art in thy bed forsaken of the phisitiōs as one without all hope of recouering bodilie health when thy tōgue fayleth thee the sences of thy bodie cease to do their woonted offices thow seeist no more nor more shal euer see in this lyfe thow speakest not nor euer shalt in this world speak more eyther wel or il thow hearest no more thow eatest no more thy pulse is scarselie to be perceyued thy bodie in all partes vexed with payne forsaketh thee thy members moue no more thow liest in thy bed like an image of wood or stone thow sweatest from top to toe for extream payne and torment their doth remaine in thee but a litle breath and in this manner sorrowing gaping for breath and striuing with death thow lyest for a litle tyme in such horrible terrible paynes both of mynde and of bodie as in this lyfe thow neuer didest feel so bitter griefes The synful soule seing herself forsaken and abandoned of the bodie whome she loued so deerlye with deep sighes her estate thorowlie weyghed knoweth she can haue neyther succour nor help of the world in this her extream need and therfore on her owne part willing to comfort and helpe her self beginneth to think on her workes yf yet in them she might finde some refuge but not able to finde in her self any other workes then weightie and wicked vices she maketh far greater sorrow then before Yet searching yf on any syde she might finde refreshing in this her hard and bitter case she then with wayling tourneth her to the mercie of God but therewithal knowing this her conuersion to rise of seruile feare seeith her self not in this last hower woorthie of mercie but rather of all rigour of iustice foorthwith is wholy cōfounded not knowing how to escape this horrible and feareful iudgement of the moste great iust iudge before whome the poore and vnhappy soule is now to bee called to appeere in iudgemēt to render a general accompt of all her actiōs euē to the least thought then the sorrowfull soule seeing her self in so great extremitie and not able to satisfie so great a iudge because so strait an accompt is demaūded of her as of all her worldlie goods of her worldlie honours of the members of her bodie and of their powers and how she hath vsed them to the honour of her creatour and the miserable soule not knowing what to answeare the eyes of her vnderstanding beeing opened she knoweth that she is not of her self by the giltinesse of her owne cōsciēce woorthie of glorie but deserueth payne and therefore vtterly desperate seeing she can fynde no relief to ease her vnshunnable payn but rather the encrease therof seeing the diuels appeare before her with moste soule and vglie shapes like fiers lyons watching to deuour her she then more vnhappie than any other creature in that instant feeleth such bitter grief and sorrow that she is forced for vehemencie of her vnspeakable passions to forsake for euer her miserable and contemptible bodie And so suddaynlie taken by those cruel fiendes of hel she is with such grief as cannot bee vttered bound and brought against her wil to that vnhappie and sorrowful countrie where beeing cast in burning fire she their remayneth in euerlasting wo and payne and the dead carkas now become carrion and all foule and stinking with a litle sound of belles and with weeping teares of kinsfolkes is brought vnto the graue whereafter it is put in the groūd it is soone deuoured of wormes turned into earth and ashes And then is verified the saying of Dauid in the Psalme Psalm 9. Perijt memoria eius cum sonitu iustus in eternum permanet that is his memorie hath perished with the sound the iust abydeth for euer and thus is the end of this worldes pomp and glorie Of how great effect the remembrāce of death may bee is shewed by many examples and chiefly by that which Iohn Climacus recyteth of a moste negligent and keycold religious man who taken with a grieuous sicknes was within a while rapt in spirit and when his soule was as it weer cleane separated from the bodie hee saw the iust iudgments of God afterward beeing returned to himself by by he despatched