Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	heart_n	soul_n	work_n	7,332	5	5.1649	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16122	The summe of the holye scripture and ordinarye of the Christen teachyng, the true Christen faithe, by the whiche we be all iustified. And of the vertue of baptesme, after the teaching of the Gospell and of the Apostles, with an informacyon howe all estates shulde lyve accordynge to the Gospell.; Summa der godliker Scrifturen. English	Bomelius, Henricus, 1500?-1570.; Fish, Simon, d. 1531.	1529 (1529)	STC 3036; ESTC S114463	99,848	250

cloister thou workest ageinst thy helth thou maist then retourne into the world without synne and lyve according to the Gospell although that it be grete shame bifore the worlde For it is better to obey vnto god then vnto men as sayd Saint Peter in thactes of thappostles Act. 5 ¶ Howe it is that the Monkes go not forward in spiritua●l life but waxe often worse Chaptre .xviij. WIlt thou knowe whie they live nowe sloughtfully in the monasteries and wherfore that there be so many that wold faine thei were out This happeth for none other cause but that they never entred for that entent that they shuld have entred One entreth there of necessite to haue his expences An other to become a greate prelate The thirde to live Idelly to haue good tymes Many for vaine glory to be reputed holy ād devout to be honoured of the comon people or so in preching to shewe theym silves that they be wise None taketh that astate with suche a sprite and courage as sometyme did saint Fraunceis or saint Benet And therfore they prouf●t nothing But the longer they be there the more sloughtfull they waxe to do good For to be ydell and to be nourisshed delicatly dulleth vs and maketh the flesshe rebell so that they are the more enclined vnto lubricite vnclēnesse hatred envye and slought then the seculers that labour with they re hondes Some se the religious rede moche praysing watche goo wolwared and were meke clothīg And this pleaseth them They get a pleasure to serve god in suche a sort They here sey that euery body promiseth the kingdome of heven vnto the observauntes so that they kepe well theire rule and by this meane conceive they sprite ād courage to lerne this life bicause they consider not what thing is promised theim if they kepe well the promises made at they re bapt●sme And after that they be thus entred into the cloister they here of none other thing they lerne none other thing but outward workes as reding singing watching fasting and other like ceremonies Thei know none other thing but that the summe of all perfection and helth resteth in these thinges So think they that they haue the principall part of all perfection that they are sure to be saved when with grete vnlust and tediousnesse they haue accomplisshed and observed these outward thinges And bicause they thinke thus thei abide hanging and trusting in suche thinges And so come they never vnto the holy and blissed sprite of saint Fraunceys or of s●int Bene● They haue never experiēce howe it stōdeth with a spirituall hart for they know not whate thing they shuld do with inforth They thinke that all lyeth in outward workes and bicause they come not vnto the sprite therfore abide they so coide we●y and slought●ull And so recule they more bakward then they goo ferward in goodnesse And comonly when they haue lived in they re religion twenty or thirty yere they are lesse worth as vnto the purpose of helth then they were at they re entre For they haue nought gotten there but a good estimacyon of theym silf of theyr good workes supersticion and ypochrisye They haue not yet ones tasted the sobriete and lytell estymacyon that the spirituall parson bereth in his hert of him silf for they abide alweys in the flesshe and in the lettre of they re rule and of the commaundementes And they do nought by love nor with good hert And as long as they kepe thus they re ordre they are reproved of God with the Pharesey yn the .xviij. Chaptre of Saint Luke Lu. 18 For if the lawe of Moyses and the Ceremonyes whiche God him silfe did ordeyne might iustifie nor save none as wryteth Saint Paule the Apostle yn all his epistles howe moche lesse may a monke be iustified by his rule and ceremonyes whiche be institute by men wherfore we must serche all in the hert and in the sprite wherby we may be iustified For the outward workes whiche we do without the sprite be sumtyme called flesshe by Christ in the Gospell Iohn ● Suche flesshe proufiteth nothing it is the sprite that quykeneth as Christ saieth That is to sey All outward and forayne thinges seme they never so holy yf yt procede not from the sprite fulfylled with fayth and love That is to sey if it be not done by Charyte and love ioyfully by the mocyon of fayth and trust that we have to God All suche thing seme it never so holy or haue it never so goodly apparaunce proufyteth nothing but rather hurteth and maketh an ypochryte For seing that god is a sprite he lovith nothing but that whiche procedeth from the sprite as he him silf saieth in the gospell Saint Paule ostymes calleth suche outward workes elementes that is to sey Ga. 4 Commencementes and entrees into christendome as though he wold sey that suche thinges are ordined and institute for theym that begyn to take vppon them the christianite As the children of the scole lerne first they re Col. 2 A. B. C. He warneth vs also that we suffer not oure silves to be deceyved that we serve not nor abide subiectes to suche elementes but willeth that we shuld procede vnto the sprite For whate proufit shuld a scoler hane to abide all his life in his A. B. C. lerne no ferther No more proufit bring the workes without the sprite and feith Moreover oure saviour Christ calleth theym mannes constitucions saying Mat. 15 They honour me in vayne teching doctrines and commaundementes of men 1. Tim. 4 Saint Paule also calleth them bodily exercitacion that is to sey thinges wherby oure body is onely exercised busyed and letted to do worse They of thē silves proufit nothing vnto oure soules For he saieth exercitaciō or bodily labour is litell thing proufitable but mekenesse proufiteth to all th●nges And this is bicause that we do it with the body onely that therby oure hert and sprite is not tourned to god Suche outward workes are moche mocked of the prophete Esaye where he speketh in the parsone of god in this maner Esa. ● Offre me no more sacrifice Sence to me is abhominacion I will no more suffre the festes of the newe mone nor of the sabbat nor other festes My soule hath hated youre calendes and solempnitees And ageyn Heven is my seate the erthe is the fotestole of my fete Esa. 66 whate is the house that thou cāst bild to me And whiche is the place of my rest My hond hath made all these thinges saieth the lord God But wherunto shall I take regarde but vnto the pore and contrite sprite and vnto the fearer of my wordes He that maketh sacrifice of an oxe as he that slewe a man He that killeth a shepe as he that brayned a dogge he that offreth oblacion as he that offered the bloude of a hogge He that remembreth the eusence as he that blissed an ydoll They haue chosen all

at the beginning Thus by ydelnesse are thei come vnto all evell and perversite and by grete hepes be they fled out of they re cloysters Monkes and Nonnes Then was it ordeyned as it semith that bifore saint Bernardes tyme the monkes did make professyon After that the life of monkes was so corrupted came saint Bernard to cloyster and then were the monkes refourmed Then did they ageyn diligently take they re astate and began ageyn to charge they re ordre with profession and promesse and haue made many statutes after the whiche they mought live and wherby they might compell men therto for the willing sprite was clere extinct in theym After this is comen the .iiij. secte of monkes As Norbertus saint Dominyk saint Fraunceys And of theym are nowe comen many sectes as the observau●tes freres minors Collettes and Mar●●ās Saint Dominyk hath byn as fertill as saint Fraunceys And thus be the cloysters and monkes multiplied without nōbre But the gretter that the nombre of mōkes and nonnes hath byn the gretelyer hath vertue and charite ben minisshed for they haue begonne to make divysions and partes the one ageinst the other for to knowe whiche of they re ordres were most holy and better then other and many other folyes After this haue the mōkes gottē popes and cardynals of they re relygion And also they haue purchased and gotten to the despyte and contempte one religyon of an other many privileges pardons and auctoritees to make cōfrayries for the seculers whome thy make parttakers of they re good workes as though they dyd more then they are bounde to do Notwithstonding that Christ him silf sayeth in the gospell Lu. 17 After that ye haue done all that to you is commaunded yet sey ye we be vnproufitable servauntes we haue done but that whiche we were bound to do Thus are the cloysters and monkes multiplied and all charyte among theym mynysshed In tymes passed was the lyfe of monkes a departing from the world and nowe they are called monkes whiche in the myddes of the world by ād sell iudge drynk eate and be conversaunt like seculers and yet will still be called monkes or racher religious They do the better to be called religyous then monkes after the life that they lede nowe for monkes after the greke worde signyfieth solytary or lyving alone as they were wont to lyve byfore tymes when they re life was good ād holye But religyous after the la●yne ys bonde and subiect For whate is now the life of the religious but a supersticious subiection vnto certeyn vayne ceremonyes Therfore they may nowe by good reason be called religious that is to sey captyves imprysoned in a ceremoniall life ād all Indaicall forasmoche as they kepe not they re ordre liberally and willingly but for the most part by constreynt But there intent is not to be called religyous sor thys cause For this worde religious betokeneth sometyme holy and gyven to the servise of god And therfore they wolde so be called entending to be taken more holyer then other Albeit that thappostell sey If eny man thinke that he is sum whate whē in dede he is nothing the same deceyveth him silf in his imaginacion Alweyes in old tymereyned all vertue emong the religious They haunte● not the worldly people ād therfore might they well be called monkes that is to sey solitaryes living alone and also religious that is to sey holye and bound vnto all vertue But nowe ye shall finde no where no gretter eaters banqueters drinkers I dare not sey drūkardes chidinges nor envy thē emong theym They thinke that when they kepe they re rule outwardly in habite kneling becking singing reding fasting seying of masse ād in other semblable ceremonyes that they be then saintes and vertuous albeit that all these thinges thus done without the sprite and fre will be nothing els bifore god but supersticion pryde and ypochrisie Thus do they dayly encrease they re supersticious ceremonyes trusting therun to bicause they haue not the same feyth sprite that the religious had in tymes passed Beforetymes the ●ove of God stered theym to do suche thinges Nowe they do it all of a necessite as though they coude not be saved without suche thinges making to theym ydols and Goddes of the workes of they re hondes Then howe is it nowe a religious lyfe I se nothing wherfore one shuld entre ynto religyon ¶ Whether the life of a Monke be better then the lyfe of a comon Eytesyn Chaptre .xvij. THe life of monkes as it is nowe vsed in the worlde is none other thing but a secte and theryn lyeth no more holynesse then in the life of a good housholder wherfore the state that the mōkes become to nowe a dayes is moche to be playned And if thou wilt knowe that I sey truth cōpare the life of a good honsholder vnto the life of a good monke behold whiche agreeth most vnto the doctrine of the gospell The monke is obeysaunt vnto hys Abbot Pryour or warden The housholder vnto his pastor or herdman in that it pleasith him to commaund him in fastinges holydayes and suche like and that many tymes more willingly then the monke to his Abbot The monke promyseth povertye but he never wanteth as seith Saynt Barnard He is fedde and nourisshed of the goodes of other gayned by the laboure of other He gyveth to none but receyveth every where The housholder liveth not of almesse as doth the monke or frere but gayneth his lyving with the labour of his hondes ye he giveth almesse according to his power So is better herin the housholder then the religious 〈◊〉 20 For Christ him silf saieth that it is more blessed to give then to receive The thirde thing that the monke promiseth is chas●ite neverthelesse the state of matrimonye pleaseth god also for he himsilf hath institute it The monke promisyth to kepe the rule of a man The housholder is content with the promise that he hath made at the font of baptesme so that he may kepe it well For the good life lieth not in moche promising but in kepīg wel that whiche one hath promised The monke reioyseth bicause saint Fraunceys or saint Dommike is his superiour The housholder holdeth god for his superiour The monke hath the rule of a man The housholder the rule of god that is to say the gospell Then whie will the Monke holde him silf more holy then the comon housholder God is egally like nighe vnto all theym that love him with all theire hert and lyve according to the gospell ● be he monke or chanone reguler or seculer The Abit of Monkes nor they re ceremonyes can not helpe theim when their hert is not good likewise as the seculer abit cā not hurte the seculer man when the herte is spirituall For the perfection of Christēdome lyeth not in mete or drinke or in other outward workes as is fasting praing with the mouth watching reding synging

making obeysaunce with the hede kneling or in eny other outward thing semblable As testifieth saint Paule vnto the Romains saying The kingdome of god is nother mete nor drinke but it is rightuousnesse peace and ioy in the holy goost If thy hart and entent seche none other thing but the honour and will of God if thou reioyse that thou maist do and suffer all thing for the love of god then art thou sure that thou lovest God and that he loveth the. This let every religious k●owe that he may not thinke that he shal be iustified by his outward workes or that he is eny thing better then the seculer man As at this day god amend it we se that many religious esteme theym silves so holye as though they alone were christen And herof many tymes the seculers are cause whiche playne they re life when they behold the life of the religious They prayse the state of religion bicause they regard onely the outward workes and pleyne that god hath not called theym to suche a life whē the religious here this they glorifie heryn trust in they re workes and thinke that it is even so and that they be more holy thē the other This is the most daungerous temptacyon that a religious may haue for by this temptacyon they beginne many tymes to trust and abyde vppō they re good workes notwithstonding that they be often done ageynst they re will whiche can never be good As at this day we se howe many monkes and nonnes lyve in they re cloysters ageynst their will And all that they do procedeth from an hart constreyned and not voluntary And out dare th●y not go for shame bicause they haue otherw●se promysed And they curse oftymes all evill to theym that haue counceyled theym and brought theym into that religyon aud wolde fayne that they re cloyster were bu●ned And so be they never content in they re hart nether can finde eny rest of conscience and be then moche ferther from god then they were whē they were seculers Suche people oftymes do many evelles toward theym silves by impacience and rebellion ageinst god They do nothing by love that they haue to god or bycause that they beleve theym silves to be the childrē of god but onely by constreynt and ageynst they re will And when they must dye they trust and stikke vppon suche workes by theim done ageynst they re hartes and by constraynt of they re ordre and thinke even thus Behold dere lord my life hath byn to me hard and bitter I haue oftymes had evill will I haue alweyes abiden in my Cloyster I haue kept myn ordre I haue valiantly fought vnto the ende gyve me nowe the crowne of glorye and the everlasting lyfe In all the worlde ys there not a more daungerous synne then this perversyte and ypochrisye It were better for suche people to voyde from they re cloyster For synners knowyng they re synnes and requyryng pardone and grace be receyved vnto grace where as suche ypochrites are reproved of god As we may sein the gospell where god received vnto grace Marye Magdaleine saint Mathew the good theef and meny other open sinnars But he hath lest the scribes and phariseys in they re blyndnesse whiche trusted on they re workes Ye fathers and mothers behold well whate ye do when ye put your children in to religion For ye are causes of all they re sinnes And it suffiseth theim not to lyve alone in suche abusion b●t they teache it theim silves vnto other whome they write in theire confraynes and make thē participant of theire good workes which procede often from an evill willed sprite whiche can never be good bifore god for God will no constreined service Nether is there any worke agreable vnto god but suche as procede from faith charite and out of a willing hart And if God wold haue suche a constreyned service he wold constreyne the devels to pray moche to syng moche to watche moche and to do suche other thinges But god will none of oure workes when he hath not oure hertes And all the workes that we do daily be agreabill vnto god if with all oure hartes we love hī beleve and trust in him And all the workes done without suche faith and loue be sinne and dampnabill bifore god ād if we s●ikke vppon theim as though they were good workes And so were it better for the to go out of thy cloyster and to be an open sinnar and to knowlege thy misdoing bifore god as did the publican then so for to trust vnto thy workes as though god for theim did owe vnto the the kingdome of heven But thou saiest I haue promysed it I must abide Iudi. 11. Mar. 6 I sey ageyne None is bo●nde to hold a promyse whiche is contrarie vnto his helth as did Iepte and Herode whiche had byn better to breke they re othes then to holde theire promyses For none may promise nor holde a thing that is cōtrary vnto hys helth S. Fraunceis and saint Dominike had lever that thou were saved in keping the gospel then dāpned trusting vppon thy workes And it is better to be shamed here bifore the worlde then bifore god But whate is it that thou hast promysed when thou madest thy profession hast thou promised that thou wilt not live after the promise that thou hast made at thy baptesme Tho● saiest nay But therfore saiest thou I am entred into religion for the better to fulfill the promyse made at baptesme Then whan thou perceyvest that thou livest worse in the monasterye then thou didest when thou were seculer whi● darest thou not take ageyn the life astate wherin thou maist worke better for thy helth without offending any parsone but rather amend other Or if thou be entred into religion for to seche the helth of thy soule and findest there more noise envye drinking bankettes diuisions hatredes then from whens thou camest thou maist alweyes sey I am come hyther to amend my lyfe And I finde that I waxe daily worse therfore I will goo there I may amend my life and serve God with more grete rest of conscience Therfore I tell the that it is better to live well in the world then yll in the monasterie to trust vppon thy good workes But thou must thinke not to leve the cloister to haue libertie and carnall pleasure but onely to serve God more frely as saieth Saint Paule Give not youre libertie an occasion vnto the flesshe And none can give the better knowlege herof Ga. 5. then thine ownr conscience when thou axest it counceil for it deceyveth none but saith alwey manifestly the trouth The world hath likewise his daungiers and his perilles and it is impossible to live in the world without sinne Therfore when the religious seith that he may be saved in his cloister ●er hym abide there although he haue there moche to suffre But when thou percey vest that in thy

profession vnto thage of .xxx yeres as biforetyme none was sacred a prest bifore thage of .xxx. yeres in whiche tyme one might prove him silf whether he might kepe his rule or not for we see many yong people promesse chastite but few can kepe it ¶ Of the life of Nonnes and Chanonesses Chaptre .xx. ONe may se nowe a dayes many monasteryes of Nonnes in the whiche they syng and rede moche And this I merveyle at from whence comith they re synging For seing they vnderstond not whate they syng I can not tell whate proufit it comith to 1. Cor. 14 For saint Paule defendeth to syng yn the churche that is to sey ī thassēble of the christen but in a tongue that all may vnderstond Then the synging of Nonnes can not be agreabill vnto God seing that they do not vnderstōd it No maner spirituall ioy can they take therby nor none amendement but do all by constreynt of they re rule and ageynst they re hert many tymes seching nothing els but vayne glorye Moche better were it for theym to rede they re houres in a langage that they vnderstode for when the sprite is not adressed vnto god the synging or reding proufiteth nothing for if synging without vnderstōding plesed God the birdes lutes herpes and other instrumentes shuld moche please god Then when eny singeth without vnderstonding it proufyteth him litell and therfore it were moche better that the Nōnes and other religious did reade and sing they re houres and they re psaulter in their comune langage Paula and Eustochium and also other ladyes of whome writeth saint Hierom did reade in they re tyme theire service in the latyn tōgue but that was bicause they did well vnderstond it And here●y is it nowe come to passe that oure Nonnes singe and reade in latyn and most for vaine glory bicause they vnderstond it not They thinke that the latyn tongue soundeth more plesauntly bifore the world Nowe is there a thing in the life of the nōnes moche to be dispreysed and that whiche is contrary to the Gospell hit is that they are so sumptuously clothed and appareyld It was the custume of old tyme whiche I do not approve that suche religious wymen went bareheded and bare nekked and so came to churche This maner hath the bisshoppes wisely reproved and chaunged and haue ordeyned that they shuld come to churche they re hedes covered like other wymen Thus when eny yong woman promysed chastite the bisshoppe covered her hede and her nekke to thintent that they shuld not be seen and that none shuld couvite her And bicause there were then no monasteries suche virgins kept theym silves in the houses of they re parentes and went not out but with they re parentes and that onely for to goo to masse or to the sermon or to visit the martyres in pryson One might lightly knowe them by the clothe that they bare about they re hedes and nekkes After this Marcella and Paula did enterpryse to bilde a monastery at Rome for that suche virgyns did not lyve without daunger in the houses of they re parentes Thus hath the cloisters of Nonnes takē they re beginning whiche were wo●t to get they re expences by the laboure of they re hondes They sang not as do Nonnes nowe a dayes but red psalmes working Thus served they God in all obedience chastite laboure simplicite and mekenesse They re rayment was simple to dispyse the world They re hedes were covered to thintent that they might see noman and noman theym But nowe God amend it all is tourned to pryde in suche maner of blasing facyon and costly yn all they re appareill and lyving whiche was gyven theym in token of sobriete chastite and mekenesse so that I can not see whate holynesse there is in the Nonnes lyving as it is nowe vsed in the worlde It is more agreabill vnto the worlde then vnto god For simplicite contemptibilyte po●ertie and humilite whiche god requireth is nowe bannisshed and reproved All is tourned into pryde excesse and costly apparell as though in these thinnges lay parpayt spiritualtye and holynesse of religyon ¶ Of the Cloysters of Sisters and of they re lyfe Chaptre .xxi. There be also divers cloisters of Sisters whole life semeth to be more according to the gospell For to labour with they re hondes and to helpe one an other by love is a christen life And saint Paule bosteth him silf in his epistles that he hath gotten his expences in the laboure of his hondes exorting vs strongly to do likewise As vnto the Tessalonians we haue not saieth he eaten oure brede for nought and without getting of it And heryn is better the life of sisters then of the nonnes for they are alweyes diligent in they re labour as in spynning knetting wesshing and other like occupacyons So shuld all parsones do for to be ydell and to be worthe moche is impossible And as said saint Ierome there is nothing worse in a good purpose then idelnesse And therfore they of Egipt wold receive none to be a monke if he were not redy to gayne his expences in labouring Saint Austyne holdeth thē for heretikes that sey that religious shuld not laboure But whie are all the religious at this day so corrupted and dissolute but bicause they are become so riche that they will no more labo●re wherfore to be moche idell to ete and drinke dilicatly to haue all maner of case and yet to abide in goodnesse is a thing impossible wherfore when the monasteryes shal be empouerisshed ageyn the monkes will beginne to laboure with they re hondes and then will the religious waxe better For bodely laboure is commaunded to all parsones by the comma●nd●ment that God gaue vnto Abd̄ whē he said Gen● ● In the swet of thy face thou shalt eate thy breade Likewise saith the scripture that he that laboureth not shulde not eate 2. T●ssa Hereby may ye se wherby it cometh that the religious and prestes be so corrupted This is by none other cause but that they be ydell and haue to moche good wherby all humylite and simplesse that was yn Iesus Christ and his appostles yn theym ys holly perysshed and quēched But yet is there an unperfection emong these Sisters moche to be dispreysed it is that they laboure to make to sumptuous and pompous edyfices monasteryes and chapelles wil be easyly lodged and are to supersticyous yn garnysshing with grete cost there chapelles and aulters makīg sumptuous aulter tables aulter clothes courteyns and other thinges lyke whiche is all nothing but pryde pompe and concupiscēce of the yien As sayth saint Iohan. Iohn 2. And albeyt that some do it of a good entent thinking by suche thinges to do grete service vnto god yet is it all nought els but abomynacyon byfore hym he setteth not by suche thinges As witnessith the prophete Esaie Esa. ●6 For he loveth all symplicite humylite and pouertye aswell outward as ynward