Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	call_v	church_n	holy_a	7,200	5	5.2401	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09094	A brief discours contayning certayne reasons why Catholiques refuse to goe to church. Written by a learned and vertuous man, to a friend of his in England. And dedicated by I.H. to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie	Parsons, Robert, 1546-1610.	1580 (1580)	STC 19394; ESTC S102386	63,624	177

Protestants to present thē selues to our Catholique Churches which he according to their blasphemous spirit calleth idolatrous His wordes are these I beleue and confesse that it is not lawful for any Christian to be assistant nether in spirit nor body at the Sacrifices of idolatours nor also to enter into their Temples whilst they are doeing their idolatries and Sacrifices excepte it be to rebuke them in shewinge them their abuses and to teach them the truth as the holy Apostles and Prophets haue done and not for to dissemble as hipocrites For if the body be a creature of God as it is as the soule is the temple of the holy Ghost and member of the mistical bodye of Christ and if it must one day rise agayne and possesse the eternal lyfe with the soule It must also necessarily be that it be altogether geuen vnto the seruice of God in this world with the soule and spirite otherwise they can not be ioyned together after the general resurrection but being seperated the one should be in heauen with God whom he loued and the other in hel with the deuil whom he serued the which is an impossible thinge Therefore I say al those dissimulations to be a verye renouncinge of Christ and of his Ghospel And in lyke manner I beleeue and confesse that all those fayned and false shewes by which the veritye of the Ghospel is hidden and the word of God despysed or by which the ignorant and infidel is confirmed in his errour or by which the weake is offended are not of God but of Sathan altogether contrarye vnto the truth of the worde Therefore we must not halt of both sides but goe vpryghtlye before that greate God which seethe behouldeth and knoweth all thinges euen before they are begonne Loehéere We sée the sentence of their Doctours to the contrarye whoe presse vs so much to goe to their Churches agaynst our consciences If errour finde such zeale what zeale ought truthe to haue If these fellowes eche of them for the defence of their pryuate fond fancies be contente most willyngelye to aduenture anye daunger or extremitye what so euer rather then to come to the true Catholicke Church wherein they were borne and to the which in Baptisme they swore obedience why should such blame be layde vpon vs for standing in defence of our consciences and for refusinge to goe to their churches wherein we were nether borne nor bred vp nor euer persuaded that they had any truth or holines in them This reason only may suffice any resonable man especiallye the Protestant except he wil mislike with his owne doctrine which condemneth me of hipocrisie dissimulation and renouncinge of Christ and his Gospel If I present but my only bodye to the churches of them whos religion I am not persuaded to be trew The which sayinge of his in a sence hath good reason albeit the wordes and meaning be wicked For if there be no man ether so foolish or impious in the world but must néeds thincke that one onelye religion amongst Christians is trew and al other false And if euerye man which hath anye religion and is resolued therein must néedes presuppose this only truth to be in his own religion then it followeth necessarily that he must likewyse persuade him selfe that all other religions besides his owne are false and erroneous and consequently al assemblies conuenticles and publike actes of the same to be wicked damnable dishonorable to God contumelious to Christ and therfore to his cōscience which thinketh so detestable Now then suppose the case thus I know in England certayne places where at certayne tymes and dayes assemblies are made by certaine men in shewe to honour and commend but in my conceate to dishonour dispraise and impugne the maiesty of my most dread soueraigne Ladye the Quéene And I am inuited thither to heare the same by my parentes kinsmen and acquaintance nay I am enforced thither by the greatest autoritie that vnder her maiestye may cōmaunde me Tel me nowe If I should goe thyther vnder anye pretence whatsoeuer of gratefiinge my frendes or by commandement of any her inferior powers can her Maiestie take it well or accounte of me better then of a trayterous catyue for yelding my selfe to stay there to heare them to countenance their doinges with my presence to hould my peace when they speake euill of her to hould my handes whiles they slaunder her and finallye to saye nothing whiles they induce other men to forsake her and her cause And if her Maiestie or anye other Prince in the Worlde could not beare at their subiectes handes any suche dissimulation trecherye or treason how much lesse shall the omnipotent Maiestye of God who requireth and deserueth muche more exact seruice at our handes beare this dissimulation and trayterous dealing of ours if we be content for temporall respectes and for satisfaction of anye mortall power lesse then him selfe to present our selues to such places and assemblies where we shal heare his Maiestie dishonoured his Sonne slādered his holy Woorde falsified his Church impugned his Sayntes and Martirs discredited his Byshopes and Pastours reuyled and all the whole Ecclesiastical Ierarchye rent broken disseuered and turned vpsydowne and his people purchased with his Blood and dearer vnto him then his own lyfe excited and sturred vp against him his ministers and by swéet woordes and gaye benedictiōs slocked away to the slaughter house of heresie What Noble man is there in the world which could take it wel if he should sée his frende and much-more his Sonne in the companie of his professed enemye at such tyme principallye as he knoweth that his enemye abuseth him in spéeche and séeketh most his discredit and dyshonour but especiallye if hee should see hym come in open assemblye of the worlde to the barre against him in companye with his aduersarie when his sayd aduersarie cōmeth of set purpose to deface him as heretiques doe to their churches and pulpets to dishonour God I think I saye he could hardly beare it And shal such disdayne be taken by a mortal man for a litle iniurie and discurtesie shewed and shal not the iustice of God be reuenged vppon our trechery and dissimulation in his cause If I geue my seruant but fortie shillinges a yeare yet I thinke him bound to defend me in al poynts and causes to be frind to my frindes enemye to my aduersaries to vphoulde my credit maintayn my honour to resift my detractors and to reuenge him selfe vppon my euilwillers and if he can be content to hould his peace hearing me euil spoken of and to put vp my flander without opening his mouth I wil account him vnworthye to weare my clothe how much more inexcusable shal we be at the dreadful daye of Indgment if we receauing at our Lord and masters handes such extraordinarie pay for our seruice in this lyfe and expecting further and aboue this all that himselfe is

that thou shouldest be deceaued with that opiniō in such fort that thou shouldest ether by noughty shame or obstinate disdayne refrayne to confesse before the substitute or Vicegerent of our Lord. For whom our Lord did not disdayne to make his substiute his iudgemente must thow be contente also to stande to This benifit therefore of the keyes of the Church and of receauing remission of their sinnes by the same which Catholickes doe thincke to be the greatest benifit of their religiō do they loose that goe to the Protestants Churches besids al the good instructions wholesome councels and vertuous admonitions which Catholickes doe receaue in confession at their ghostly fathers hands then the which things they finde nothinge more forcible to bring them to good lyfe especially if they frequente it often as all 〈◊〉 Catholickes in the worlde nowe doe Fourthlye they loose the infinite benefite of receuing the blessed sacramēt of the aulter the pretious Body and Bloud of Christ being the foode of our soules and as Christ sayeth The bread that came downe from heuen to geue lyfe vnto the world To the worthye eating of which heauēly bread Christ promiseth infinite reward saying He that eateth my flesh and drincketh my bloud hath lyfe euerlasting and I wil rayse him againe at the last day And agayne He that eateth me shal lyue through me Upon which promises of Christ our forfathers of the Primatiue church haue alwayes most earnestlye exhorted al men to the often receauinge of this blessed sacrament alleaging innumerable cōmodities of y e same and prouing by experiēce that the frequēting of this Sacrament is the chéefeste meanes to come to al grace zeale féelinge and lyfe in spiritual matters And on the contrarye parte that the abstayninge from the same is the right way to al spiritual miserye and for the soule of man to wyther away drye vp and starue euen as the plant dothe that lacketh moysture The which we sée nowe by experience in manye a thousand who for lacke of the foode of this blessed Fountayne of grace are as dead in al spiritual cogitations and déedes as a starued stake in the hadge from bearing of flowers and their myndes so ouergrowen with the rancke wéedes of Carnalitye that there is noe difference betwixte them and a brute bullocke for as much the one foloweth his passions as the other Whereby we sée what a losse it is to depryue them selues from the vse of this Sacrament Fiftlye they loose al the merit of their good déedes what soeuer For as S. Gregorie sayeth Euen as none receaued their peny in the Gospel but they onely which had labored within the compasse of the Vineyarde soe no man shal receaue any reward for any good deede of his except he haue donne it within the vnitye of the Church So that if a man should doe neuer so many good déedes geue neuer so manye almes nay as S. Cyprian proueth if a man should suffer neuer so many thinges for Christ yea death it selfe yet if he were out of the vnity of the Catholick Church he shal haue no rewarde therefore And not onely this but if a man be in anye mortal sinne what soeuer as long as he abydeth in the same without repentance and confession al deuines hould that he looseth the rewarde of al his good déedes And the reason is because noe worke can be meritorious of it selfe but onely by reson of the grace from whence it procéedeth but by euerye mortal sinne which a man committeth he losseth grace and much more by goeinge out of the vnitye of the Church And therefore in such men vntil they repente there can be noe hope of anye reward for any good woorke which they shall doe Sixthely they lose the benefit of Communion of Saintes which we protest to beléeue in our Créede That is they haue no parte of the Sacrifices oblations prayers fastinges almes other good woorks done within the Catholique Church which all other Catholiques haue Finallye they being cut of and deuided from the vnitie of the other members they take parte of no influence whiche cōmeth from the head to the bodye that is from Christ to the Churche nomore then a mans hande once cut of doth take blood norishment spirit or lyfe from the arme from which it is now separated as most learnedly S. Austen dothe discourse Wherfore they must néedes wither awaye and make drye wood for hell fyre and as good for them it were in effect to be of anye other relygion as of that whereof they take not one iote of commoditye And to all these myseries they are driuen onely by going to the protestants Churches THE Nynthe Reason THE Nynthe Reason whiche Catholiques may yelde for their refusal of going to the Church may be the example of all men from the beginning which haue had any care or Conscience toward their own religion not only good men of whom I haue geuen diuers examples before but also al others how false erronious soeuer their religion were yet did they alwayes procure to separate them selues from them of the contrarie religion in the acte of prayer and from the Templs Sinagogues Churches Dratories and conuenticles of 〈◊〉 same Soe we reade of the Gentils which thought it to be a great sinne and polution to enter into the Iewes Synagogues or Christians Chnrches The like we read alsoe of the Turkes at thys daye Soe al heretiques from the beginning as soone as they had framed any newe relygion eftsons they erected new oratories to them selues and refused to come to those of other relygions as the Arians Denatists and the rest had their Churches and places of prayer dstincte from the Catholiques whose Churches they detested and auoyded together with their doctrine And soe the Anabaptistes at this daye refuse to goe to the Lutherans Church and the Lutherans to the Trinitaries In like wise the Puritans of our time in Englād refuse to come to the Protestantes churches And the Protestants in oother countries doe vtterly denye to present them selues to Catholique Churches alleginge their consciencs for the same and affirming it to be danmable hipocrisie in them that for feare or for any other temporal repect doe yeld to doe the same against their fayth and conscience Wherby it apeareth that they goe quit against their own docttrine and example in England which obiect the same to Catholiques as disobedience obstinacie and rebellious dealing which in other countries they them selues both teach and practise I wil for mor manifestation of this matter put downe here the very wordes of one of them translated out of french and printed in England and dedicated to y t Lord Tresurour by John Brooke the authors name is John Gardiner a Protestant whoe in his Cathechisme or as he calleth it Confession of his faythe maketh it a great heynous sinne for