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spirit_n heart_n holy_a lord_n 17,551 5 3.7649 3 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A19610 The lover: or, Nuptiall love. VVritten, by Robert Crofts, to please himselfe R. C. (Robert Crofts); Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650, engraver. 1638 (1638) STC 6042; ESTC S109075 27,528 88

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they would bee as fraile and as passionate as women And if Women were freed from the frailty of their sex they would bee as manly and as excellent as men And though Women have divers naturall infirmities both of body and mind yet a wise man will not love his wife a jot the worse because hee knowes they are naturall But few Women are Angels and hee that would have a Woman without passions must marry when the Signe is not in Coelo And for this scolding malady this is a good Remedy To bee silent and not regard her or else to laugh at her But let us see if the fault be not in our selves The reason why many Women are so bad is because they have ill Husbands if so let us mend Happie are wee if our Wives be an occasion of our being good though they be never so bad And sometimes a good man may chance to make a good wife of an ill one It is also fit that Men should use their Wives well and maintaine them in good fashion according to their meanes and to let them have such reasonable and convenient Liberty and authority as it is fit a wife who is a mans second selfe should have and enjoy For want of this many women being too straitly kept under and unkindly and Churlishly used are even forced to flye out beyond Reason and to become Froward Contentious Iealous discontented And some to turne Queanes by Compulsion Too much liberty and Authority on the other side is not fit to bee allowed them especially to such kind of women as love not their owne houses but by reason of much gadding abroad learne more tricks then bee good who are then onely pleasant and contented And at home nothing but brawle and are there commonly sullen froward peevish discontented and of idle lewd conditions Let therefore both men and women endeavour to avoyd all occasions of strife and discontent as much as they may And such as cannot bee avoided to Contemne or Dissemble and make the best thereof And to endeavour in all respects to live lovingly familiarly and pleasantly in such sort as becomes them Saint Paul and Saint Peter give excellent directions to this purpose So ought men to love their Wiues saith Saint Paul as their owne bodies for no man ever yet hated his owne flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord his Church Eph. 5.25 And againe yee men Love your wiues and bee not bitter to them Colossians 3.19 And to women he sayth Wiues submit your selves vnto your husbands as unto the Lord For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the Church Eph. 5.22 Saint Peter also giveth directions to this purpose in his 1. Epistle and 3 Chapter I will write them at large for they are most excellent Hee beginnes with Wiues and is longest about them they having as it seemes most need of instruction Yee wiues saith hee bee in subjection to your husbands that if any obey not the word they also may without the word bee wonne by the Conversation of their wiues while they behold their Chast conversation coupled with feare Whose adorning let it not bee that outward Adorning of playting the Haire or of wearing and putting on gorgious Apparell But let it bee of the Heart in that which is not Corruptible even the ornament of a meeke and quiet Spirit which is in the sight of GOD of great price For after this manner in the old time the holy Women also who trusted in GOD adorned themselves being in subjection unto their owne Husbands Even as Sara obeyed Abraham calling him Lord whose Daughters yee are as long as yee doe well and not being dismayed with feare Likewise Yee husbands sayth hee dwell with your Wives according to knowledge giving honour unto the wife as unto the weaker vessell and as being heyres together of the grace of Life that your Prayers may not be hindred Finally bee yee of one minde having Compassion one of another being pittifull courteous Not rendring evill for evill or rayling for rayling but contrariwise blessing knowing that yee are thereunto called that yee may inherit a blessing Thus much sayth St. Peter 1 Ephes 3 Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 and 10 verses So then let Men and their Wives in all respects Endeavour to live together as they ought according to such Divine direction Let them alwayes bee as Loving kinde pleasant and as familiar as may bee and mutually enjoy together all the blessings and benefits belonging to this Nuptiall Love and Societie And especially let them bee Pious and Religious Then though their Beauty and Bodies should decay and become infirme yet their very Soules may bee in Love with one another which is farre more excellent then bodily Love So while they view one another as divine and Celestiall creatures as the beloved of God himselfe their Loves may still kindle and increase untill both they and it ascend to that firmament of fire where Love all divine and heavenly flames beyond imagination and lasts for euer SECT XIIII A briefe perswasion to Marriage I Shall now endeavour briefly to perswade such as may conveniently though a single Life bee otherwise to bee preferr'd before it to this honourable and blessed estate of Marriage It hath alwayes bin confest by all reasonable men That a consonant Marriage such as when both parties be equally match'd in respect of Yeares Birth Constitution and Fortunes and of loving kinde wise constant and good Conditions is an earthly Paradise of happinesse And no man can justly blame such Marriages unto which All lawes both Divine and Humane exhort us Nature provoketh us Honesty draweth us All Nations approove thereof necessity of Continuing our kinde constraineth us and abundance of felicity inviteth us thereunto And St. Paul sayth It is the Doctrine of Devils to forbid Marriage The best and most learned Philosophers have praised and used the same As Socrates Plato Aristotle Seneca Plutarch and others And though a Contemplative divine Spirit can overcome Nature and contemne the greatest earthly pleasure in Comparison of heavenly delights and take great pleasure in such Contempt Yet all men have not this divine Grace of Continencie And looking downewards againe we may consider that we have Bodies as well as Soules which require due and convenient Recreations And though as St. Paul well observed Marriage hindereth a heavenly Contemplative life in respect of Care and other disturbances yet for all these fore-named considerations and many other It is good to marry though better to live single if wee burne not and if wee have divine Grace enough to bee Continent And this Nuptiall society being honourable blessed and ordained of God for avoyding of unlawfull lusts for the preservation of Mankind and for mutuall helpe comfort and pleasure in one another It cannot bee denyed but it is good to marry especially when such marry whose bodies minds doe Sympathize and both are of
Love of God to it As that this infinite glorious God should send his onely Sonne a part of himselfe to redeeme and glorifie us That this part of himselfe This very God our Saviour Iesus Christ should vnvaile himselfe of all his glory come to live on Earth and suffer so much such a Death for such miserable wretches as wee are when wee were his enemyes to deliver us from Death Hell and all misery and to merrit for us Heaven and all felicity why then it is even overcome and with Saint Ignatius even weepes with Love and joy to thinke that his love was crucified for him Lord teach us a language wholly divine to thanke thee for such Love See what a vertue is in the passion of our Saviour that if our soules in Contemplation of his wounds should ressent the smart yet knowing that he suffered all this most willingly to make us happy It is enough to make us even swoune with Ioy and Love and bee extazied with a thousand sorts of pleasures Insomuch as wee should willingly dye of Love and joy for his sake Moreover when the Soule thinkes how her Saviour loves her it is enough to fill her with sweetest ioy and pleasure O! how shee is inflamed with Love when shee contemplates those sweete words of her beloved calling her his sister his spouse his Love his Dove his vndefiled And saying thou art all faire my Love there is no spot in thee Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes c. Cant. 4. And my beloved is the fairest among Women the chiefest among tenne thousand Looking forth as the morning faire as the Moone pure as the Sun c. Cant. 5. That shee is a Kings daughter As a Queene in a vesture of Gold of Ophir embroydred Rayment of Needle worke that the King might take pleasure in her Beauty Psal 45. O! how the sweet harmonious accents of these words doe ravish the Spirits and powerfully attract the hearts of all those unto him that are able truely but to heare the Eccho of them and to perceive the sweetnesse thereof Insomuch that they are ready to borrow wings on all sides to flye out of themselves that they may bee wholly possest with the Love and Ioy of their Saviour Let us then feelingly speake to our Beloved in the same language which hee speakes to us Then which indeed can be no better no sweeter Come then my Beloved Kisse mee with the kisses of thy mouth for thy Love is better then Wine Draw me and I will runne after thee Shew mee O thou whom my Soule loveth where thou feedest and where thou makest thy flocke to rest at noone Cant. 1 2 4 7. Stay mee with thy flagons and comfort mee with apples for I am sicke o● Love Cant 2.5 Come my beloved let us goe foorth into the fields let us lodge in the Villages Let us get up early to the Vineyards let us see if the Vine flourish whether the tender grape appeare and the Pomgranate bud foorth There will I giue thee my Love Cant. 7.11.12 Set mee as a seale of thine heart and as a signet on thine Arme For Love is as strong as death It is as a fire a vehement flame many waters cannot quench Love and the flouds cannot drowne it c. Cant. 8.6.7 I am perswaded saith Saint Paul That neither life nor death nor Angells nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall bee able to seperate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Rom. 8.38 True Love suffers not for the Subject which it Loves It hath a power in it to change the nature of things From the time that a Soule is chastly taken with this passion even the paines and torments thereof are changing the name and quality within the Heart They are Roses rather then Thornes For if it sigh it is of Ioy and not of paine if it bee necessary to dye for the glory of this Lovely cause of its life It is no death to it but a meere Rapt of Contentment which severs it selfe from it selfe in Love of another selfe whom it Loves more then it selfe So that if wee were truely capable of the Love Beauty Glory and excellency of our Saviour Though with Saint Lawrence wee should broyle uppon Devouring flames Yet our hearts which would burne more hot with the fire of his Love then that of our punishment would quite extinguish the same for our hearts being all aflame already and our soules afire how could wee expire amidst those heates though our bodyes were burned to ashes since the stronger must needs prevaile Insomuch as wee should feele the delights of Heaven in the fire whereof we should make our selves a Crowne of glory Though wee cannot attaine to such an height of Love and Ioy yet let us endeavour to love as much as wee can For GOD who alwayes accepteth the will for the deed will lovingly accept of our good wishes and Endeavours And his Power is made perfect in our Infirmities as St. Paul sayth And the more to inflame our loue to GOD. Many gracious and glorious Promises are registred in his Divine word to such as Love him I shall onely mention and Conclude with that of Saint PAVL 1 Corinth 2.9 Eye hath not seene nor Eare heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of man those things which GOD hath prepared for them that Love him Thinke then you Spirits of the world what Felicitie this is Wee know the Eye hath seene most Beautifull Lovely and glorious things The Eare hath heard rare Consorts of Musicke and voyces What sweet Ioy and pleasure hath the Heart of man imagined of the Orchards of Adonis The Gardens of Hesperides The Delights of the fortunate Islands Of the Elizian Fields and Turkes Paradise But let Humane imagination thinke of all these at once and assemble in one Subject whatsoever is most Beautifull and delicious in Nature Let them imagine a Quire of Syrens and let them joyne thereto in Consort both the Harpe of Orpheus and the voyce of Amphion Let Apollo and the Muses bee there to beare a Part And let them search within the Power of Nature all the extreame Pleasures which it hath produced in the world hitherto to charme our Senses and to ravish our Spirits Yet all these are but meere Chymeraes and as a vaine Idaea A meere Shadow of a body of pleasure in Comparison of those Divine thoughts and pleasures which the Saints may and shall enjoy in the Contemplation of GOD and his infinite Beauty Glory Love and of the Felicities which hee hath prepared for them that Love him Their thoughts and Contemplations even in this life may bee Composed of mutterably Glories Crownes Kingdomes Divine visions Heavenly exultations of Spirit and of extreame ioyes pleasures and felicities It is impossible to expresse the pleasures of a heavenly Soule The Contentments thereof are not to bee so called Its sweetnesse hath another name Its Extasies and Ravishments cannot bee vttered Saint Paul himselfe could not expresse the same Hee could not tell whether hee were in his body or no Insomuch as the heart that feeles them cannot comprehend them Truely therefore doth Saint Paul say That such pleasures have not entred into the heart of man This seemes to bee a Riddle Not Entred into the heart of man how can man enioy it then Indeed hee must bee aboue a naturall Man Aboue himselfe that enioyes such pleasures Hee must bee Partaker of the Divine nature of a Superhumane and Heavenly temper All Grace is aboue nature And if by reason of our frailties and infirmities wee cannot attaine to such a height of Love to and joy in God in this life yet if wee indeavour truely for this grace to Love and serve him who alwayes accepts our true Endeavours and desires and perfects our weaknesse by his power There shall come a time when wee shall see GOD as hee is know him as wee are knowne Love him beyond expression and enjoy in him infinite pleasures and felicities for ever And then wee shall bee made like him as Saint Iohn sayth 1. Iohn 3.2 In such sort as fire by uniting it selfe to yron by an exceeding and extreame heate doth purifie the yron and convert the same into fire In like manner but above all degrees of Comparison doth GOD purifie and reduce us to a being supernaturall and deified vnites and takes the soule into his owne divine nature And this fire which shall so vnite us to God is divine Love For as God is a consuming fire to his Enemies So is hee a fire of Love to his friends And then wee shall have a new being and a new Name That is of our Spouse of our Beloved of GOD himselfe For hereby the Soule becomes a Part of GOD and with him and in him enjoyes all Happinesse So as now it may be sayd to be no more a Soule but GOD himselfe To conclude Let us then fervently wish and long for this time which shall bee at the Marriage of the Kings Sonne to which the Angels shall invite us Then shall wee Celebrate an Everlasting wedding Feast yea our Soules shall bee the Bride and Love shall be the Banner over us And then shall we possesse and enjoy infinite pleasures and felicities for ever FINIS Jmprimatur THO WYKES Decemb 7. 1637.