Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	day_n	lord_n	word_n	7,457	5	4.1658	3	false

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05371	The treasure of vowed chastity in secular persons. Also the widdowes glasse. VVritten by the RR. Fathers Leonard Lessius, and Fuluius Androtius, both of the Society of Iesus. Translated into English by I.W. P.	Lessius, Leonardus, 1554-1623.; Androzzi, Fulvio, 1523-1575. aut; Wilson, John, ca. 1575-ca. 1645?	1621 (1621)	STC 15524; ESTC S108506	57,293	362

whom not so much as the very number of their yeares can perswade that they are old who with other folkes hair set forth their head and paint out in aged wrinckles their youth forespent who finally in presence of many nephews are trimmed like trembling girles Let the Christian woman blush if shee force the comelinesse of nature if she make prouision for the flesh vnto concupiscence in which according to the Apostle whosoeuer are delighted cannot please God Our widow before was very carefully dressed and all the day at the glasse she studied what might be amisse Now she confidently saith but we beholding the glory of our lord with face reuealed are transformed into the same image from glory vnto glory as of our Lords spirit Then the maides did platte her hayre and the harmeles head was wringed with frizeled tops but now the vntrimmed head knoweth this to suffice that it is couered Then did the very softnes of feathers seeme hard and she could scarce lay in the raysed bedds now she riseth betimes for to pray and with her shrill voice preuenting the others in singing Alleluia she is the first which beginneth to prayse her Lord. She kneeleth vpon the bare ground and with often teares that face is purged which before was defiled with painting After prayer there are sung psalmes the feeble neck and wearyed knees sleepy eyes for the earnest feruour of the mind can scant obtain any rest The mourning gowne is least fouled when she lyeth on the ground The course pantoffle affoardeth the price of gilt shoes vnto the poore the girdle is not beset with gold pretious stones but of wollen and most pure because of the simplicity such as may rather straiten the garments then adorne them If the Scorpion enuyeth so good a purpose and with flattering speach perswade againe to eate of the forbidden tree insteed of a shoe let him be crushed with a curse whilest he dyeth in his poyson let him haue this answere Go after me Satan which is as much to say as Aduersary for he is the Aduersary of Christ and an Antichrist whosoeuer is displeased with the precepts of Christ. I pray you what haue we done like vnto the Apostles that they are so offended They forsake their aged Father with their ship and nets the Publican riseth from the custom-house followeth our Sauiour The disciple which desired to returne home and bidd friends farewell is forbidden by our Maisters voice The buriall of a Father is not allowed it is a kind of piety for our Lord to be voyd of pitty We because we goe not in silkes are esteemed Monks because we are not drunke neither open our mouthes vnto dissolute laughter we are cal-called graue and melancholy If our coate be not gorgeous we straight heare that common Prouerbe He is an hypocrite and deceauing Grecian Let them vse euen yet more rude scoffes and carry about with them men stuffed with fat paunches Our Blesilla will laugh and not disdaine to hear the reproaches of croking frogges whereas her Lord Maister was called Beelzebub Hitherto S. Hierome And there might be heer set downe many of his Epistls of the same subiect in praise and commendation of the Crowne and Merit of Widdowhood if this litle treatise were capable therof or that it were our intention to make heereof a great volume And therfore we wil content our selues at this tyme with some briefe Aduertisementes of his concerning the same subiect CHAP. V. Aduertisementes to VViddowes out of the same S. Hierome MANY are the Instructions documents which the ancient Fathers haue set down for vertuous deuout Widdowes And first of all we will produce what we find written by S. Hierome aforesayd in diuers places of his works in the briefest manner we can not to ouerweary the Widdow-Reader As those Widdowes sayth S. Hierome who wheÌ„ they were marryed did only study to please their husbands so let those who are now freed from carnal marriage seeke and study only to please God whome they haue chosen for their spouse in place of their former husbands As Widdowes whilest they were ioyned to the world did vse the vanity of the world so let them now being ioyned to god banish from their hartes all vanityes As Widdowes whilest they were marryed in the world studyed how to nourish and pamper their bodyes for the bearing of children supporting the burden of Marriage so now let them keep sobriety and bring their body into seruitude and subiect the same to the spirit thereby to be able to serue their second spouse Christ Iesus in their sacred and spirituall Marriage Let a Widdow be so much the more a louer of Chastity by how much all her actions wordes and workes may sauour of purity Let her neuer be alone as neere as possible with any man that she need not be ashamed whensoeuer she is seen to conuerse with another Let her alwayes auoyd the coÌ„pany of vaine idle and sensuall persons especially of Widdows that should be so giuen nor so much as permit any such to come neere vnto her Let her take great heed neuer to detract or murmure or speake euill of any man Let her also auoyd those who vse to murmure and permit them not vpon any occasion to speake euill of any person in her presence to the end that those who visit her may be edifyed by her vertuous comportment She must also haue a great care of her honesty and reputation of which she ought to be alwayes so iealous and fearefull that her speach her face and all the actions of her body yea her very garments may demonstrate the same to the end that no occasion be giueÌ„ to others not so much as to thinke the contrary of her By how much more younge she is by so much the more ought she to be graue and venerable in all her actions Let her not take too much pleasure or delight in singing especially of songs but let her recreate her selfe honestly with those of her owne house and family Let her alwayes haue at hand some book of deuotion let her haue often recourse vnto prayer which is the readiest way to driue away all vayne and euill thoughts which the Enemy may put into her mind And for that the flesh hath continually combat with the spirit let her vse abstinence and other mortifications to subdue the same according to the couÌ„sell of her prudent Ghostly Father As Anger and Choller is naturall oftentymes to a man so neuer to be ouercome therwith is most proper to a Christian. Let the widdow therfore take great heed therof Let her alwayes haue before her eyes the examples of Indith and Anne the Prophetesse widdowes who continually night and day imployed their tyme in prayer fasting and vertuous exercises For which God gaue to one of them so much grace and valour as to ouercome and cut off the Diuels head figured in that of Holofernes and to the other

any other spirituall Exercises These I do intreat by the bowels of Christ Iesus that they will no longer imploy the gifts and graces which they haue receaued froÌ„ our Lord to the honour and seruice of the world to the end they may haue their reward in heauen and not on earth There is another sort of widdowes also who make a firme purpose and deliberation to conserue and keep their chastity serue God with all their hart of these there are two kinds One who cannot separate themselues from their children or other parents either for the charge they haue of theÌ„ or because they cannot so wel liue alone or for some necessity or charity in gouerning their family and these although they be not wholy free from the world nor are dedicated to the seruice of God notwithstanding al the paynes and labours they take they doe it principally for the loue of God of whom they shal be rewarded with life euerlasting These Widdowes are not any to be remoued or drawne away from this kind of life but are according to S. Paul greatly to be honoured and esteemed The other kind are those Widdowes who desirous to serue God may commodiously separat theÌ„selues from their parents friends or family and be more free to attend to prayer and other deuout exercises yet they will not thorough a kind of pufill animity or little courage or els for compassion to their friendes or for some other reason Neither are these to be condemned but esteemed in a second or third degree from the former The last sort of widdowes are the true worthily so called Widdowes who dispatching themselues of al worldly impedimeÌ„ts do attend only to the seruice of God coÌ„templating him and meditating on him day and night And these are placed in a more quiet and peaceable Estate then any of the others aboue named and are entred into the right and direct way of perfection In this Estate liued that Holy Widdowe Anne the Prophetesse recorded by S. Luke who is sayd to haue serued God in fasting prayer remaining night and day in the Temple And if such Widdowes who haue a desire to liue vertuously caÌ„not match or come neere to S. Anne yet let theÌ„ come as neere vnto her as they can So as I conclude that the true Widdow is she who not only conserues her Chastity in the world but also whatsoeuer she doth she doth it purely for the honour and seruice of Almighty God And for that euery widdow doth not know how to exercise her selfe in the truly seruing of God vnlesse she know the scope and end therof I purpose heere to set downe briefly in what manner she is to do the same CHAP. II. Of the Intention and Exercise of a true VViddow VVHEN a Widdow hath well considered of her Estate firme purpose to serue God it is necessary that first she vnderstand what is the end scope of this kind of life that conformably therto she may addresse all her workes and actions The first and principal end then is that not onely Widdowes but euery Christian also ought to liue wel and in the feare of God whome she must loue more then her owne soule and therefore she must labour that by al her endeauours actions the name of God may be euer blessed praised Christian fayth and religion aduanced and honoured This belongeth more to Widdowes then to many others who consequently must be mortifyed and of a chast and pure life For that they hauing lost their carnall Spouses they ought to seeke for no other but their Spouse Christ Iesus So as a truely deuout Widdow ought so to inflame her hart with the zeale of Gods honour that she should choose rather to dye then that by her means her Spouse should be any way dishonoured Secondly she ought with as great zeale seek and procure her owne saluation considering that she is not alwayes to remayne in this world because it is ordayned for al men once to dye and then of necessity to go either to heaue or to intollerable torments in Hell or Purgatory And therefore hauing as it were lost and forgone all the Consolations of this transitory world she must force her self to get conserue those that be celestiall and euerlasting CHAP. III. Documents for VViddowes out of S. Paul SAINT Paul wryting to Timothy sayth Honour VViddowes He meaneth such Widdowes who liue vertuously according to the rule of Widdow-hood that is to say to gouerne wel their families not only their children or their kinsfolkes but also their subiects instructing them in good life manners and vertue and when it is needfull to reprehend and correct them Secondly he sayth That Widdowes ought to hope in God to trust in his mercy in him alone to seeke for Comfort and consolation hauing dayly their mind eleuated in God in al humility praying often and imploring his diuine ayde to preserue them from all euill to forgiue them and all sinners their sins to replenish them with his gifts and graces and lastly to guide them to eternall felicity Thirdly he sayth That a VViddow entertayning worldly carnall consolations passing her dayes in mirth ioylity vanity is accompted for dead For although she liue according to the body yet is she dead according to the spirit nor can she once do any good or meritorious work worthy of heauen Fourthly he commandeth widdowes That they should be irreprehensible in all their words and deeds that is to say that in all their actioÌ„s they giue good example that they keep themselues not only from coÌ„mitting of mortal crims but euen from the least veniall sinnes that may be Whence it followes that if they liue vertuously huÌ„bly in feare and vigilancy it may be said of them as it was said of Iudith that most noble and deuout widdow That neuer was there fouÌ„d any man who spake euill of her Fifthly he sayth That the Widow ought to think vpon those things that belong vnto God to the end she may be holy sanctifyed in body and spirit c. CHAP. IIII. The prayse of VViddowhood out of S. Hierome SAINT Hierome amongst the rest of Ancient Fathers is not the last nor least that hath praysed widdowhood nay I may say he hath exalted the same aboue many if not aboue all the rest And to begin first with an Epistle of his to Furia a Noble yong Lady and widdow of Rome thus he wryteth vnto her in coÌ„mendation of the crown of Widdowhood You desire in your letter and humbly intreate me that I will answere you or rather write vnto you in what manner you may liue conserue the crowne of widdowhood without any blemish of the honour of your good Name My mind reioiceth my bowells do daunce my affection doth leape because you desire to be such after your husbands death as your mother Titiana of holy memory was a long time her husbaÌ„d liuing Her praiers and deuotions are heard She hath obtained

in her only daughter that which she possessed whilest she liued You haue moreouer a very great Priuiledge of your Ancestours that euen from Camillus either none at all or very few women of your stocke was married the second time so that you are not so much to be praised if you remain a widdow as to be detested if being a Christian you perfourme not that which heathen women for so many ages haue obserued I say nothing of Paula EustochiuÌ„ flowers of your family least I may seeme to take occasion by the exhorting of you to praise them I let passe Blesilla which following her husbaÌ„d your brother in a short space of life fulfilled many yeares of vertue And I would to God that men would imitate the praises of women wrinckled ould age would performe that which voluntary youth doth offer Wittingly willingly I thrust my hand into the fire Many countenances wil frowne many armes will be spread abroad and angry Chremes will rage with his foaming mouth Many great personages will be incensed against my Epistles the whole company of Nobles will thunder out and say I am a witch that I am a seducer worthy to be banished from all ciuill common wealthes Let them adde if they will a Samaritane also that I may acknowledge my Lords title Surely I do not deuide the daughter from her father Neither do I say that of the gospell Suffer the to bury the dead For whosoeuer beleeueth in Christ liueth and whosoeuer beleueth in him ought surely to walke euen as he walked Honour your father but so as he seuere you not from your true father So long acknowledg the linck of your bloud how long he acknowledgeth his Creatour For otherwise Dauid will presently sing vnto you Heare O daughter see and incline thine eare and forget thy people and the house of thy father and the King will desire thy beauty because he is thy Lord thy God and thy King O great reward of forgetting ones Father The King wil desire thy beauty because thou hast heard because thou hast seene because thou hast inclined thy eare forgot thy people and the house of thy father therfore will the King desire thy beauty and will say vnto thee Thou are al faire O my Deare and there is no spotte in thee What thing more faire then the soule which is called the daughter of God and seeketh no forraine ornameÌ„ts she beleeueth in Christ and with this ambition she goeth to her spouse hauing the same to her Lord and to her spouse What miseries mariage haue you haue learned in marriage it selfe and you haue bene filled with that which you longed for euen vnto loathsomenes Your lawes haue tryed most bitter choler you haue cast out those sower vnwholsom meates you haue eased your boyling stomake Why wil you yet throwe in againe that which once was hurtfull vnto you The dogge returneth to his vomit and the sow againe to her wallowing in the mire The very brute beastes restles birdes do not fall the secoÌ„d time into the same snares nettes Do you feare least the family of the Furij be extinguished and least your father haue not a babe by you which may creepe in his bosome and beslauer his necke What I pray you haue all which are maried children And those children which they haue do they alwaies answere to their kinred Yea surely Ciceroes sonne did resemble his fathers eloquence and Cornelia your Auncestresse an example of honesty and fecundity had much ioy of the Gracchi her sonnes It is ridiculous to hope of a certainty for that which both many haue not had haue lost when once they had it To whom wil you leaue so great riches To Christ who cannot dye Who shall be your heire he which is also my Lord. Your father will mourne but Christ will reioyce your family will be sorowfull but the Angels will be ioyfull Let your father do what he wil with his substance you are not his by whom you were borne but his by whom you were borne againe and who redeemed you with an exceeding great price euen with his bloud So far ould good S. Hierom. Where you see what esteeme he maketh of Widdowhood yea in a young noble and beautifull Lady And no lesse doth he in another Epistle of his to Marcella commending the courage and resolution of Blesilla a young Noble widdow also Thus then he writeth to Marcella of Blesilla her sicknes Abraham is tempted in his sonne is found more faithfull Ioseph is sould into Aegipt that so he may feed his father brethren Ezechias is terrified with his death at hand and dissolued into teares hath his life prolonged for fifteene yeares Peter the Apostle is afflicted with our Lords passion and weeping bitterly he heareth Feed my sheepe Paul a rauening woolf and another young Beniamin is stroken blind in a traunce that he may receiue his sight and being compassed with a suddaine horrour of darknes calleth him Lord whom before he persecuted as man Euen so now O Marcella we haue seene our louing Blesilla thirty daies continually to haue bene tormented with the burning of an ague that she might learne to reiect the delights of that body which shortly after is to be consumed with wormes To her also came our Lord Iesus and touched her hand and behould she arising now serueth him She sauoured somewhat of negligence and being tied with the bandes of riches she lay in the sepulcher of the world But Iesus groned and being troubled in spirit cried out Blesilla come forth Who arose when she was called and being come forth now sitteh at the table with our Lord. Let the Iewes threaten and swell let them seeke to murder her who hath bene raised vp againe and let the oÌ„ly apostles reioyce She knoweth that she oweth her life vnto him who did restore it She knoweth that she eÌ„braceth his feete whose iudgment lately she feared Her body lay almost dead and death approaching did shake her gasping members Where were then the helpes of her kinred where were then the wordes full of vanity She oweth nothing vnto thee O vngratefull kinred which dying to the world is reuiued vnto Christ. Who is a Christian let him reioyce he that is angry sheweth that he is no Christian A widdow loosed from the bond of marriage needeth nothing but perseuerance But doth the course garment offend any person let Iohn offend him then whom amongst the sonnes of women there was none greater who being called an Angell baptized our Lord himselfe for he also was cladd with a Camells skynne and girded with a girdle of hayre Do grosse meates displease them nothing is more grosse then locusts Let those women rather offend Christian eies who with vernish and colours paint their eies and cheekes whose plaistered couÌ„tenance deformed with ouermuch shining doth resemble Idols Who if they happen for want of heed to let fall a teare it trickleth downe in a furrow

become rich as the Apostle witnesseth fall into temptation and the snare of the deuill and into many vnprofitable and hurtfull desires which send them head long into damnatioÌ„ destruction for couetous desire is the roote of all mischeife Marriage doth comonly force men headlong vnto this desire for al meÌ„ would make their children rich leaue them a large inheritance so that deseruedly also for that cause that state of life is not to be greatly desired which maketh all our paines and cares most commonly not only vnprofitable for our welfare but also dangerous and hurtfull vnto vs if it be not auoyded Yet it followes not from hence that wedlocke is euill for neither Riches or Honnors be euil but good which God also sometymes bestoweth vpoÌ„ vs for the reward of some good deed or other and in tymes past haue beene promised also to those few who obserued the law but it is dangerous I say to loue such pleasures and delights to follow them and to imploy al our endeauors onely in attayning of them since they are but base meane and do hinder the loue and desire of things eternall intaÌ„gle the minde in many snares In like manner though Matrimony of it selfe be good and ordeyned by God yet it drawes with it many cares and troubles which through humanie frailty hinder the health of the soule that it leades men secretly into many sins and oftentimes vnto eternall damnation Thus much of the humaine affectioÌ„ out of which many men inclyne vnto Marryage The spirituall affection is when Parents desire to haue children to the end that they may instruct them in the feare of God that they may teach them to serue him that they may increase the number of the faithful that by them many deeds of deuotion may be done that God may be honored by them and the like these affections rise not out of nature but out of diuâ—ne inspiration and are worthy of a man as he is a Christian. Whence I confesse that Parents who with this kind of affection desire to haue yssue and bring them vp as aforsaid do merit greatly before Almighty God the wife also who with such a spirit desireth Marriage shal be saued by the bearing of children And in this manner the wordes of the Apostle are to be vnderstood 1. Tim. 2. But yet it seemes to be more probable that the Apostle in that place speaketh not of the merit but of the estate and office of Marriage that to be also the meaning of this saying Saluabitur c. She shal be saued by doing the office of Marryage and endeauouring to haue children for so the Greeke text doth import as the learned do teach So likewise to the Romans cap. 4. 5. 11. AbrahaÌ„ is sayd to be the Father of those that belieue by hauing the foreskin or Prepuce cut off that is to say by those which are in that Estate And in 2. Cor. cap. 6. Per gloriam ignobilitatem c. By glory and ignobility by infamy and good credit that is to say in prosperity and aduersity The same is confirmed by the words which the Apostle addeth Saluabitur c. She shal be saued saith he by the bearing of childreÌ„ if she perseuere in faith in loue in holynes with sobriety therefore he attributeth the cause of saluatito fayth to loue c. not to the procreation of children yet I confesse also that this very deed is meritorious likewise if it be done as we haue sayd out of spirituall affection but it is otherwise if it be done out of humaine only Moreouer if this estate and the offices thereof be chosen performed with a spirituall affection neuertheles single life is much better and more meritorious both because it remoues innumerable occasions of distractions imperfections and sinnes by which the estate of Matrimony is hindred in the offices of deuotion and also because it affoardeth coÌ„modity of conuersing dayly with God and of being attent to diuin matters Wherefore a Virgin oftentymes may merit more in one day then a marryed woman in many monethes CHAP. VII Of certaine thinges to be obserued in this Estate TO the end that Virgins may the better preserue this treasure obtayne their scope and purpose more at larg by which they haue so straitly bound themselues vnto God and vndertaken this estate holy Fathers haue prescribed certaine things to be obserued First in their apparell secondly in their exercises thidly in the vse of their riches and wealth lastly in their conuersation As for their apparell it must not be costly but decâ—nt and graue without any kind of vanity or curiosity without pride also or any secular ornaments such as may represent the state wherein they liue and the forsaking of the world by which euery man that sees them may know that they are Virgins and haue an intent neuer to marry For by this meanes they shall auoyd all importunityes and troubles which suiters are accustomed to vse and besides this they shall preuent many other inticements to the breach of their intent S. Cyprian in his booke de disciplina habitu Virginum handleth this place more at large and with great elegancy Continency quoth he Chastity consist not only in the integrity of the body but also in the honor of the Attire and apparell being ioyned with modesty She must not only be a Virgin really but also she must be knowne and be belieued to be such a one so that no man who seeth her who is a Virgin may haue any doubt whether she be so or no. For why should she go adorned or attyred as though she had or would haue a husband let her rather feare to please any if she be a Virgin neither let her seeke her owne danger since she preserues her selfe for a better more deuout purpose c. Neither ought a Virgin to be delighted with the shew of her owne beauty or to take a glory in her owne person or comlynes since she hath no resistance or war against any thing so much as against the flesh nor any more obstinate enemy to ouercom theÌ„ her own body Afterwards he alleadgeth some who excuse theÌ„selues for their Riches and Nobility for which respects they thinke that it is conuenient for them to go more richly attyred whose excuse he refuteth at large shewing in what thinges they should imploy their wealth To their habit also belongeth a Veyle with the which it is meete that a Virgin should be couered when she goeth abroad least either she might see that which were not befitting or her countenance should be perceaued of others For how many I pray you haue there beene in the world who only by sight haue either perished themselues or killed others In so much that they must take principal heed of their eyes And Tertullian hath written a particuler Treatise vpoÌ„ this subiect of virgins veyling and couering their heads which he iudged to

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