Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	holy_a	person_n	son_n	20,542	5	6.1434	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A80275	A compendious narration of the most examplar life of the right honourable and most virtuous Lady Mary, late Countess of Shrewsbury Faithfully collected out of the writings of a most learned and worthy person who attended her many years: by a gentleman, who by reason of his long acquaintance and much conversation with her can testifie the truth of all that is here related.	Gentleman.	1677 (1677)	Wing C5608A; ESTC R224366	18,927	64

sent for which my Lord being struck to the heart with that sad Good morrow she had given him did not fail to do with all diligence as knowing too well how much it concerned him to preserve so great a treasure And though she had by my Lords care the constant attendance of two or three of the ablest Doctors then in Oxford London being at too great a distance and that they at the beginning seemed hopeful of her recovery and failed not in the application of all those Remedies their Art could suggest yet it pleased God to render their endeavours ineffectual for the violence of her sickness encreased so fast upon her that according to her own opinion who by his Divine permission had taken a righter measure of her own Infirmity then they had it proved the means of freeing her within a few days of all the cares that attend a transitory life Her pains were extream seasing her in the most sensible part the prime seat of life her heart and her patience was equal for she was never heard to complain of or lament her condition but whensoever she was asked concerning it her only answer was as it pleased God upon whom her heart was wholly fixed and in continuall applications of her self to him and in fervent prayers to implore his mercy and grace the whole time of her sickness was spent On the last day whereof being the feast of the Holy Innocents she received Extream Unction with admirable devotion being so present to her self as to answer exactly to the Lytanies and to reach out her own hands to be annointed The next day being the feast of St. Thomas of Canterbury that famous Martyr and Champion of the Church a day that was ever wont to be spent by her in a manner totally in devotion about six of the Clock in the morning just precisely at the conclusion of those devout prayers called the Recommendation of the soul used by the Catholick Church in the last Agonies of her children did this great Servant of God end this mortal life giving up her soul to him whom she ever loved served and obeyed with her whole heart as hath been I suppose sufficiently evidenced by many most remarkable and undeniable testimonies And I think I may without difficulty gain credit when I shall tell you how universal a consort of Lamentation there was in all that Family at the approach of her death when every one was considering how great a loss they were to undergoe not any but sensibly shared in this affliction seeing no children could have a more tender or careful Mother no servants a more Indulgent or charitable Mistress nor no Husband a more affectionate and obedient Wife After her Death it appeared evidently to those who had the ordering of her body for buriall that she had not only made a righter judgment of her danger then her Physitians but also of the quality of her Infirmity which shewed it self by the great evacuation of bloud at her mouth to have been an Imposthume she having several times some years before intimated that she conceived that there was one gathering about or near her heart where she felt her greatest torment She lived 36 years 2 months and 26 days and her Corps were with all convenient decency carried to Albrington in Shropshire a Town belonging to the now Earles of Shrewsbury and the usuall place of Sepulture of that branch of that family unto which that Earldome hath been descended these four last generations and there it was interred in a Church dedicated to God in honour of St. Thomas of Canterbury upon whose Feast she died and laid in the self-same Vault with that of the late most Learned and holy George Earl of Shrewsbury formerly mentioned whose virtues she did so effectually imitate She left behinde her 4 Sons and 3 Daughters having buried 2 Sons during her life to wit the Lord George Tallbot who died in his youthful age and inherited the heroicall spirit of his great Name but left no issue behinde him Francis the second Son Earl after his Father a Gentleman generally esteemed by all worthy persons and as much lamented by all such who hath left issue Charles the present hopeful Earl and one other Son and a Daughter the picture both in her face and humour of her Father Edward the third Son kill'd in the late Civill Wars in the service of his King at the Battle of York and Gilbert the fourth and youngest Son still living Her 3 Daughters were the Lady Frances the Lady Katherine and the Lady Mary all were most praise-worthy for their excellent dispositions and virtuous comportments the two first dyed in their young age without issue the Lady Mary is still living and hath issue one Son by her first husband the grandchild by the Fathers side of Thomas Lord Arundell of Wardour and Count Imperial and by the Mothers of the Lord Viscount Montacute and both Sons and Daughters by her second husband the brother and heir apparent of James Lord Studly and Earl of Castle-haven Gods holy Name be blessed for having given her the Grace to leade so holy a life and make so happy an end and may we by his grace and favour through the mercies of Christ profit by the example of her virtues FINIS

his divine Majesty to render thanks to whom for his so highly merciful a preservation from this so great disaster was the first thing she did after her return home before she spoke to any one whomsoever she repairing immediatly to her Oratory to this most Christian-like Exercise and there reciting with great Devotion that pious Hymn called Te Deum composed by those great Saints and Doctors of the Church St. Ambrose and St. Augustine and used by all the faithful in solemn Thanksgivings to God for his blessings and manifold mercies these her high acts of charity so universally extended render it needless to relate how incessant the care was that she took in the instruction of her children in all the mysteries and duties of Christian Religion which she would personally perform her self as soon as they came to those years that rendred them capable thereof Even as soon as they began to make any shew of speaking she was sollicitous that before any other word they might learn to pronounce the holy and divine name of Jesus to which all knees bow whether in Heaven or Earth or elsewhere and that their prayers might be the first discourses that they might use that so they might begin in the first place to speak to God to whom the first and chief honour is due and in their Nurses arms when they were at any time brought home her first caress was to signe them with the signe of the Cross and immediately to carry them to her Oratory to offer them to his divine Majesty and beg blessings for them And as their age encreased she did not fail to encourage them no less by word then example to the exercise of all virtues and particularly to a liberal and compassionate relief of the poor which Christ doth so expresly own as done to himself Neither was she wanting to act the part of a Mother in this kinde towards the meanest of her servants to whose being catechised and taught all Christian duties she with constant zeal contributed even personally when need required and of whose exact performance of all those Obligations to which either the laws of God or of his spouse the holy Catholick Church tye her children she was so piously sollicitous that they wanted neither frequent admonitions to encourage them to good nor such reprehensions as were requisite to alter them from all evil And all things relating to the discharge of their domestical employments were by her most Christian-like providence so ordered as that they might not prove any hindrance to their attending to the service of God or rendring him all due honour by being present at divine service and all other holy exercises at times appointed by that authority which he hath left here on earth assisted by his holy spirit to guide and govern the spirituall kingdome of humane souls Seeing therefore it hath been made appear so evidently how high and even supererrogatory a charity she shewed both in relieving the corporal necessities and also in contributing so efficatiously to the spiritual advantages of others It cannot certainly enter easily into the suspition of any rational person but that she was equally careful not to do any one the least imaginable Injury I am sure it would be injurious to her for any person to harbour such a doubt in his breast For how sensibly tender her conscience was in all that concerned the reputation of others there are as many witnesses as persons that knew her who all with one mouth avow that she was never heard to speak any the least word that might tend to the diminution of the credit of any one whatsoever nor ever to use any deriding expression or reproach even in the reprehension of the meanest of her servants But on the contrary side her tongue was ever ready how wary soever she was in avoyding much discourse to defend the reputation and excuse the faults of others against those many who are too apt both to misrepresent and misconster the actions of their neighbours and too uncharitably to rip up the memory of their failings And all her reprehensions even for the greatest faults were according to Christs counsel privately given for the concealment of their imperfections and were seasoned with so much sweetness that her anger was not only innocent but virtuous And in composing all differences which sometimes happen in such numerous Families as hers between her servants she was a very Angel of peace and was exactly careful that even those of the best quality that attended her might do right to the very meanest without all partiality Her Other Virtues WHen good principles are laid the consequences are generally ever clear so that it seems a kinde of demonstration that so lively a faith and so exemplar a Charity as her soul was adorned with must necessarily be accompanied with all other virtues so fervent a lover of God could not but take delight in the practise of all that which is agreeable in his sight Howsoever I will endeavour briefly to shew how eminent she was in all kindes And to begin with that rarely to be found perfection in the feminine sex of this latter age modesty she excelled therein in so high a degree that her conversation and comportment might seem commendable ever in a veiled votary much more in one of a secular calling nothing ever appeared in her habit or dress that might not merit a praise from the most scrupulous observer of the rules of that virtue And so careful was she that none under her charge might offend therein that she permitted not her children to reade any books without an assurance from her spiritual guides that there was nothing in them contradictory to faith or destructive to modesty much lesse did she allow them either to haunt any company or use any divertisement that might in the least degree endanger the violation of that so much praised virtue by all pious persons and particularly commended by St. Peter the holy Apostle in these words that the chaste conversation of Christian Ladies was to be in fear and their trimming not to be outward as consisting in the curling of their hayr 1 Pet. 3.4 adorning themselves with curious and costly clothes but in the inwardness of heart which is hidden and the incorruptibility of a quick and modest spirit which indeed is highly rich in the sight of God Neither was her humility lesse celebrated by all that knew then her Modesty For she not only made appear this high virtue truly high because so eminently practised by the highest of all Creatures the Mother of God in avoiding as much as possibly her condition would permit all things either of oftentation or pomp whether it were in apparel or any other real vanity and in treating all persons of what rank soever with all imaginable sweetness and affability though without any indiscreet diminution of that dignity in which God had placed her and which no Lady knew better how to comply with then her self but