Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	faith_n	grace_n	work_v	7,291	5	7.3947	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00765	A treatise of prayer, and of the fruits and manner of prayer. By the most Reuerend Father in God Iohn Fisher Bishop of Rochestre, Preist and most eminent Cardinall of the most holy Catholike Church, of the title of S. Vitalis. Translated into English by R.A.B.; Tractatus de orando Deum. English	Fisher, John, Saint, 1469-1535.; Roe, Alban, 1583-1642, attributed name.; Anderton, Robert, attributed name.; Batt, Antonie.; R. A.	1640 (1640)	STC 10890; ESTC S115046	39,954	190

hands of almightie God whatsoever the holy spirit shal inspire them but cheifely that it would please his diuine Majestie not to forsake them but that he would graciouslie grant them what in his diuine knowledge and wisedome he seeth most necessarie for theire soules health And if they proceede according to this manner they shal not only grow and become more acceptable to God but shall also dayly profitt more and more in fervour of charitie and become like vnto those most heavenly and angelicall spiritts which dayly behold and contemplate the face of God And why should they not though heere lying vpon earth and couered with this corruptible flesh be sayd to be like Angells Seing they pray as the blesed Angells doe that is in spirit seing also they tast the same sweetnesse which the blessed Angells doe and seing lastly they doe heere on earth find in themselues a pledge or earnest peny of their future happinesse which these blessed Angells doe now inioy In soe much that there is nothing wāting to them but the beatificall vision of Gods glory which so soone as they haue shaken of this vayle of mortall flesh they shall inioy in heaven FINIS Gentle Reader by reason of these vacant pages I thought good in respect this litle Armour of S. Ephraem doth something conduce to the present Discourse to adde it as a postscript for thy further instruction THE ARMOVR OF S. EPHRAEM HE who resolveth to fight couragiously for Christ Iesus must possesse himselfe of this armour with which being guarded he may both resist his aduersarie the devill and be more pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour What this Panoplie or armour is listen my brother and I will tell thee For thy breast-plate or doublett take fayth but as a graine of mustard seede beleeving in the consubstantiall and individuall Trinitie Hovv fayt bis compared to a graine of runstard seede For the graine of mustard seede is very light and round having neyther cracke nor corner but as I sayd before is altogether round which being pounded or bruised hath in it a mervailous great heate The Prince of the Apostolicall order S. Peter when he confessed Christ Iesus to be sonne of the living God he received the keyes of the Kingdome of heaven Matt. 16. and obteined power ouer all heavenly and earthly things this harnesse or armour deare brother challenge to thy selfe that thou for mayst receiue grace from God for whosoever hath but so much perfect fayth and charitie shall without question promerit grace from God Which our Lord insinuating sayd If you have fayth as a graine of mustard seede say to this montaine remoue frō hence thither and it shall remoue The prefit and comēdations of fayth Doe you not see that fayth promeritts grace Vnto it is giuen the spirit of vnderstanding truly a most singular gift for when one belecveth then also he vnderstandeth It is giuen him to vnderstand that he should not iudge his neighbour then is given to him the speach of wisedome then the grace of curing for he doth cure the weake in fayth and bringeth to right those that are falen for one and the same spirit worketh all these things But there be many who have fayth but are destitute of workes But that is no fayth for it is dead for fayth without workes is dead Iac. 2.25 He that hath fayth and worketh theworkes of fayth he hath fayth burning as the mustard seede Possesse thou this my brother and be sound and firme in fayth and fervent to put in execution the preceps of our Saviour that thou mayest deserue to heare that voyce of his Welfare thee good and faythful fervant enter into the ioy of thy Lord. Matt. 25. Our Lord calls him good for his works faythfull for his fayth Take the helmet hope of the future good which neyther eye hath seene care hath heard nor hath entred into the heart of man vpon which the Angells desire to looke For this hope is the most powerfull consolation of the soule Hope the helmet amongst the thornes of her afflictions and molestations and the memorie thereof will replenish thee with ioy To this being intent the holy Martyrs of Christ amidst their various and most horrible torments a midst bales of iron suffered all most readilie and willingly being strengh thened with this most eminent vertue of hope Moyses prefixing before his eyes the reward of this hope refused to be called the sonne of the Queene esteming and preferring it before all threasures of Egypt wherefore he made rather choyce to be afflicted with the people of God then to haue any temporall fruition of sinne Place this hope my brother dayly before thine eyes that affection to it may not permit thee to esteeme any whit of temporal and corruptible things and not onely this but that it may make thee more prompt and ready to aduance thy selfe to any good worke For thy girdle girt thy selfe with perfect charitie to God and thy neyghbour Charitie the girdle and this will make thee runne forward without any impediment at all For if he whoe is girt with his girdle doth soe easily passe with the burthen he vndertaketh with how much more facilitie shal he who is girt with this diuine charitie overcome all things For charitie suffers all things beareth with all things charitie is the fulnesse of the law Saint Paul being possessed of this charitie sayd who is weake and I am not weake Who is scandalized and I am not burned Hast thou seene the pittie and compassion of charitie O blessed saint Paul why art thou so afflicted for me Shalt thou suffer torments for me Thou hast once consummated thy course thou hast kept thy fayth and there is a crowne of iustice layd vp for thee what wouldest thou haue more Why doest thou afflict thy selfe And why should est thou become weake for me Alas sayth he it is charitle that vrgeth me Hast thou now seene the heigth and eminencye of charitie He who through charitie had fulfilled the law being yet couered with his mortall and corruptible flesh deserved to be rapt vp to the third heaven and to heare such words as are not lawful for man to speake Now forthy shoes take vnto thee humilitie Numilitie the shoe for as the shoe is continually spurned and trodd vpon even so he that is replenished with humilitie studyeth to be troden on by all men Therefore thou o my brother furnish thy selfe with this vertue of humilitie for it is truly a shoe not corporal but spirituall and it shall preserue thee that thou shalt not strike they foot against the stone For Christ is the stone and humilitie shal so preserue thee that thou offendest not Christ The Prophet Dauid abounded in humilitie Psal 90. when he sayd I am a worme and not a man Doest thou see this royall humilitie of this King and Prophet Psal 21. He alwayse sawe our Lord before him because

or shapeth to it selfe of God must not be vnder any colour or light or figure or any other corporal likenesse for all these things are created and so not God whereas we seeke the vnion and coniunction of our selues with God only and not with any other thing distinct from him If therefore one goeth about to thinke of God himselfe let him with his vnderstanding flie aboue all things created Hovv vvemay atteine to the conceiving of God alone conceiueing in his mind a thing most high most excellent and by infinite degrees surpassing all other things imaginable This if he can doe without the apprehension of anie light colour figure or likenesse as I sayd before then hath he apprehended God himselfe In which affaire if thou wilt continue and diligently imploy thy selfe thou shalt at last atteine to that vnspeakable sweet ness and withall obteine the three fould fruit of thy prayer But if in the beginning this way seeme difficult to any one The meditation of the humanitie of Christ leadeth to higher contemplation of God let him first exercise himselfe in thinking vpon Iesus Christ who is both true God and true man let him therefore fix the eye of his vnderstanding vpon him as true God calling to remembrance his holy Incarnation birth painfull labours and cruel death Let him consider likewise his heavenly glory where with he now shineth sitting att the right hand of his father Whosoever shall diligently exercise himselfe in these or any other meditation of Christ Or more proportionable for him shall easily from his most sacred humanitie mount to the contemplation of the most vnspeakeable inscrutable diuine Majestie of God For this is the necrest way that leadeth vs to the tast of that most pure and diuine sweetnesse And if perchance he cannot yet atteine vnto this inward comfort and sweetnesse almightie God withdrawing himselfe eyther because as yet he seeth it will but litle proffitt him or because he is not fervent enough or sufficiētly attentiue considering the greatnesse and dignitie of the thing he desires yet for all this he shall not loose the reward of his prayer The best therefore and most pure way of prayer is The most perfect vvay of prayer if one after he hath most seriously recollected himselfe and directed his mind with all his force vnto God himselfe who is verely there present doth offer vnto him from the bottome of his heart and with a pure affection the prayers which he is about to say whether he vnderstand them or not it is not materiall and shal soe fix his mind vpon God that his imagination wāders not Such an one shal proffit more in the love of God which is the end of prayer then if he were never so attentiue to the words or sense of them For this setling of his mind vpon God is for the most part accompanied with such an eleuation of heart that the mind having forgotten all earthly things many times knoweth not where it is or what it doth as if a man were become a meere stranger to himselfe and the spirit is sometimes soe greatly moved that vnadvisedly it cryes out or doth some other action which immediately after a man remembers not because the spiritt worketh so mightily in him that he can by no meanes suppresse those actions in himselfe And as the holy fathers whoe in this art were very expert and skilfull affirme there is oftentimes so great sweetnesse tasted in prayer that it even redoundeth to the flesh so that the flesh is made pertaker of so great sweetnesse and such as it never tasted before To which the Prophet David accordeth saying My heart and flesh have exulted in the living God as if he should say my heart through the bounteous overflowing of my spirit hath received so wonderfull a sweetnesse from God that my very flesh through delight of it is over come with ioy and such as I am not able to cōteine my selfe This very exultation is as it were a sparkle of eternall life which we shall inioy after the vniucrsall resurection of our bodies for then the glory of the soule shall so exceedingly aboūd that it shall flow into the bodie and both soule and bodie with this abundāce shal be fullie satisfied Out of what hath heere beē sayd before in this chapter it may easily be gathered that the cheifest attention to be vsed in prayer is to have continuallie in our memorie the presence of God to whom we pray and to fix him immoueablie before the eyes of our heart which to doe though in the beginning of this exercise it be some what difficult and trouble some yet by successe of time and vse of prayer it will become more easie and more pleasant but to them cheifely whoe are most inflamed with the spirit of deuotion and contemplation Now let vs passe to the next question How long our prayer ought to be CHAPT III. NOw in the second place we must inquire how long our prayer ought to be for being it may be longer or shorter as we please therefore to know of what length or how short it must be belongeth to the manner of prayer I say therefore that although Iesus Christ admonisheth vs alwayse to pray it is not so to be vnderstood as we have declared in the first chapter that we ought alwayse actuallie to pray for no man is able so to continue our weakenesse and frailtie being such that it will not permitt vs to be still intent eyther to vocall or mentall prayer without any intermission yet notwithstanding doth Christ admonish vs rightly for that we are in continuall neede of Gods aide and assistance which we must continuallie begge and intreate at his hands It hath pleased therefore some grave Authors to giue vs this rule that we should so farre prolong our prayer A similitude vntill we have atteined the end for which it was first instituted For as the phisitian applieth no greater or stronger medecine to his patient then will serve to cure his disease which is the end of the art of phisicke Even soe must our prayer be soe long till wee have atteined to the immediate end for which it was instituted But the first and cheifest end of prayer is the fervor of charitie which is the healh of our soules It is fervor then of charitie that God requireth of vs for he doth despise the lukewarme and in the Apocalyps he preferrethe the key cold before him saying I would thou wert hot or cold Apoc. 9. but by cause thou art luke-arme I will beginne to vomitt thee out of my mouth See heere in how great hatred almightie God hath those that are luke-warme Wherefore we must labour by all meanes possible to procure in our selves this feruency of charitie For the obteining of which fervour prayer is of all things most necessarie which feruor so soone as we have obteined we are exceedingly enabled with great alacritie to vndertake any worke whatsoever we thinke to