Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A01450
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The cognizance of a true Christian or the outward markes whereby he may be the better knowne: consisting especially in these two duties: fasting and giuing of almes: verie needfull for these difficult times. Diuided into two seuerall treatises. Published by Samuel Gardiner, Batcheler of Diuinitie
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Gardiner, Samuel, b. 1563 or 4.
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1597
(1597)
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STC 11573; ESTC S102818
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96,047
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234
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hie and trouble some to get vp This our earthly burtheÌ„ is a verie great weight too heauie already to beare but by replenishing it and craÌ„ming it with eating and drinking we do ouercharge it and ouerburthen our selues and do bring a greater weight then we had before It will be therefore very hard for vs to ascend vp vnto the same vnlesse wee shake off this yoke and disburthen our selues A worthie simlitude Which of you hauing a horse that is too lustie casting you off when you would sit vpon his back would not tame him by abating him of his accustomed prouender that so you might sit surely vpon him and ride him whither you list would not rule him with hunger when you cannot with a bridle Take this course with thy bodie Aug Tom. 4 de vtilit Ieiunri Caromea saith Augustine iumentum meum est iter ago in Hierosolymam plerumque me rapit de via conatur me excludere via autem men Christus est ita exultanteÌ„ non cob bebo ieiunio My flesh is my beast I am iourneying towardes Ierusalem oftentimes he flingeth me and laboureth to cast me out of my way My way is Christ shall I not therefore when hee is thus lustie humble him with fasting If a base or rude peasant should bee so sawcie as to court a faire Ladie or intice a woman of great birth A good simlitude vnto his wicked lust shee would not onelie not consent to loue him but also in that he is so vilde and abiect a creature she would giue commaundement to scourge him or to cudgell him Therefore if our vilde bodie shall be so presumptuous as to assault the minde which as it is capable of reason vnderstanding is like a great Princesse and shall allure it vnto any wickednesse reason will be so far from yeelding vnto it as it will giue charge that the bodie should be subdued and aflicted with fasting A similitude When as two men that are of equall strength go togither into the field to striue masteries it is hard to set downe whose is the victorie but if there shall come a third man who shall ayde one of these parties then it is soone knowne who shall get the field euen he that is thus friended So when the body and spirit fighteth togither as they do as Saint Paul saith Gal. 5 The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh This Du llum and conflict is doubtfull but let the bodie finde a friend that wil support it with meat drink sleepe and all delights the flesh will easily subdue the spirit But sauour thou the spirit with fasting and praier and other godly exercises and it will haue preheminence and ouer-rule the flesh Dan. 3 When as Nabucho donosor wold haue the people to cast down themselues before the golden Image which hee had set vp he first of all procured many musical instruments to be sounded then charged the crier to make his Oyes proclamation Be at knowne O people Natitions and languages that when you heare the sound of the Cornet trumpet harpe sagbut psalterie dulcymer and all instruments of Musicke ye shall fall downe and worship the golden image which Nabuchodonosor the king hath set vp The king had this policie and drift in this thing that the delight of Musicke tickling the eares and delighting the soules the peoples mindes rauished and distracted with this conceited pleasure shoulde be carried away from the chiefest pleasure which they should haue in godlinesse and incline vnto Idolatrie This was a subtill stratagem and practise of the diuell procuring our destruction with a pleasaunt sinne as the fish is procured to the hooke with a pleasant baite This was Labans fetch subtiltie Gen 31.27 which he vsed when as he followed his nephew Iacob to mount Giliad and would haue inticed him to retire and go home againe with him speaking thus vnto him Wherefore didst thou she so secretly and steale away from mee and didst not tel me that I might haue sent thee forth with mirth and songs with timbrell and with harpe This slight vsed he to retaine him still with him and detaine him from his country And this is the course and fashion of the worlde it possesseth vs with pleasure and with vaine delights it dooth keepe vs in a sordide and slauish obsequie enthralling vs with the inticements of pleasaunt meates and drinks and transitorie vanities that wee shoulde not iourney towardes our oone Countrey As the Israelites who longing after the flesh-pots of Egypt perished in the wildernesse and could not enter into the land of promise So as long as wee are miscarried with an insatiable pleasure of eating drinking wee die in our sins and cannot come into the spirituall Canaan which flâ—weth with milke and honie and aboundeth with all eternall felicitie That we should not see our sinnes but worship this Idoll and earthly image of our bodies we are led on with a delight of surfetting and drunkennes and chearing and feasting as Nabitcadnezzâ—â— would leade away his people A Similitude with his instruments of musicke Wherefore as Phisitias do prepare vs before they would heale vs that their phisick might be medicinable so let vs prepare our selues before we pray that our prayer may be acceptable And this must bee by chastisting the body and keeping in vnder least the body insulting and crowing ouer the spirit it disableth the spirit making it vnsit vnto any good worke For as the Hawke that is full gorged Aâ—â—â—tude will not come vnto the lure so will we hardly when our bodies bee full be obedient to Gods call As hunger and famine brought home the lost sonne to his Fathers house so fasting and abstinence from worldly pleasures will bring vs that are lost vnto our Father again making vs to sing his dolefull dittie in a godly sorrowe which is vnto saluation Futher I haue sinned against heauen and against thee I am no more worthie to bee called thy sonne CHAP. VIII That prayer is to be ioyned with our fasting HAuing thus by a godly fast made our bodies obedient vnto vs it immediatly followeth that we make our mindes obedient vnto God Aug. Tom. 9 de vtilitate ieiunii Stenim caro tua obediat tibi tu non obedis domino tuo nonne ab ipsa damnaris If thy flesh bee subiect vnto thee and thou wilt not bee subiect vnto God shal thou not be condemned of thy flesh Ibid. Agnesce ergo superiorem vt tibi recte cedat inferior Acknowledge thou therefore thy superior the thou maist haue thy dutie of thy inferiour Ieiunium autem quaerit deum per frequentes orationes Aug. Serm. 2 oâ—de tempore ibid. But fasting seeketh God by continual praiers Oratio est refectio ieiuniorum ieiunium dulcificat sicut enim sine potunoÌ„ est plenaria refectio sic teiunium sine oratione non potest animaÌ„