Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	law_n	life_n	sin_n	22,698	5	5.7840	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05382	The historie of the defendors of the catholique faith Discoursing the state of religion in England, and the care of the politique state for religion during the reignes of King Henrry 8. Edward. 6. Queene Marie. Elizabeth. And our late souereigne, King Iames. ... With all, declaring by what means these kings & queenes haue obtained this title, defendor of the faith, and wherein they haue deserued it ... By Christopher Lever.	Lever, Christopher, fl. 1627.; Hulsius, Friedrich van, b. 1580, engraver.	1627 (1627)	STC 15537; ESTC S108541	141,977	384

common knowne enemies of a vertuous life is a victorie which morall men haue obtained and doth assuredly iustifie for good the happie composition of such a Nature Seuenthly To maintaine correspondence and indifferent fauour in mutuall societie is most necessarie to a mans happie condition because he that hath the fauour of generall opinion hath interest in euerie mans estate CHAP. XXVI Of the care the Queene and State had to depresse the enemies of the Catholike Faith FIRST the best witnesse of a Christian life is Mercie and the best demonstration of mercie is that fauour that men shew to their enemies for such kindnesse is against the perswasion of flesh and onely caused by the mouing of Grace And therefore mercie euen in an euill man doth merit admiration at the least and to be reputed as a beautious ornament in a base subiect But mercy in the good is a most worthie commendation and a worthinesse for which God will exchange his best benefits For there is nothing wherein God is more delighted then the workes of Mercie in the heauenly exercise whereof hee himselfe is wonderfully contented gladding his most sacred diuinity that in Mercie hee doth triumph and that his mercie hath the greatest part in all his workings Secondly And as this respect of mercie hath preheminence in the Nature of God so hath it also in the reformed natures of good men who desire principally to square themselues to this most holy proportion And in this gratious respect of mercie hath Queene Elizabeth equalled the best Princes that euer were so rarely was this Queene composed of Mercie and Maiestie as that in Maiestie she may iustly be reputed most excellent yet in Mercie more excellent than in Maiestie the which she would often declare euen to the enemies of her life and soule For often would she reach her hands of fauour to them whose hands were euer readie to her destruction This truth is most euident in the view of her gratious gouernement who abhorred their death who most traiterously sought hers and suffered such peacefully to enioy their euill consciences who practised to destroy her for her zeale and constancie in the Catholike Faith Thirdly For if the Papists in the time of Queene Marie or if now in such places where that Religion is profest were or had bene so mercifull in the iudgement of their Lawes as Queene Elizabeth was the time of her gouernement then had not those times bene stayned with the crying sinnes of Blood and Persecution neither had the bodies of Saints perished in that abundance at the holy fires of Martyrdome May it therefore be for euer recorded for the honour of Queene Elizabeths name that her mercie was more to the bad then theirs to the better sort of people and that in this most gratious indument she is most worthie to bee compared with the most mercifull Prince that euer was Fourthly The first yeares of her gouernment may sufficiently proue this her mercifull disposition in which time the fauour of her hardest Lawes were such as that her greatest enemies the enemies of her life and Religion could not but acknowledge them very mercifull seeking onely to reforme not to destroy the estate or life of any one Fifthly Vpon this aduantage the euill spirits of men practise against her life and dignitie For it is not possible that the inueterate enuie of men can be satisfied by any manner of faire perswasion or suppressed by any violent meanes vnlesse seuerity reach to the verie life of one so enuious for mercie to an euill man maketh him presumptuous and seuerity maketh him desperate So that this disease of enuie is not curable vnlesse God please to doe it For in this peacefull time of the Q when mercy was so generally conferd did the Pope the enemie of Faith the great Polititian of the world deuise dangerous proiects against the Q. and the state of Religion in England the which he prosecuted with much instance and withall the forcible meanes he could deuise The course he tooke was answerable to the practise of former Popes anathemating banning the Queene from the hope of saluatiō interdicting her Kingdomes and absoluing her subiects from the dutie of their naturall obedience commanding vpon paine of damnation to doe that which in the Iudgement of Gods Law is damnation to doe This instrument Pius Quintus the Pope sent ouer into England and according to his vngodly command was it diuulged and spread before the generall face of this Kingdome whereby many of the Queenes people in the North and in places of least knowledge and ciuility reconcile themselues to the Popes fauour and like Calues ran wilde after the lowing of this curst and cursing Bull sent forth by the impious Pope Pius Sixthly The Queene and State apprehending the danger of these proceedings and knowing how hazzardous it might be to her life and state to suffer this violence to passe without resistance Call a Parliament and there agree vpon such Statutes as in their wisedomes were thought most conuenient to preuent the mischiefe intended against the Queenes life her State and the Catholike Faith Seuenthly The cause then mouing the Queene and State to enact those lawes which they call seuerity was themselues by reason of their turbulent and euill spirits desiring innouation yea and inuasion who if they could haue bene content with the benefit of peace which they thē enioyed wherewith the holy men of all ages haue bene most gladly contented they had then preuented those lawes which they so much condemne neither had they runne their names nor their cause of Religion into that suspition of the State as by these their treasonable designes they haue most iustly merited But it is antient and true that from euill manners are deriued good and wholsome lawes and they by desire to harme the state they did arme it with wholsome and prouident lawes whereby it was made the better able to preuent and resist their harmefull intentions And from their euill is this Good occasioned that by attempting euill and by fayling in that attempt they haue curbed their owne power and shortned their owne hornes wherewith they and their Bulls had thought to haue pusht the glory of this Nation And therefore was their Iudgement an effect of their owne cause and most iustly inflicted on them For God doth retort the euill purposes of men against the contriuers of them and they that make snares and traps to catch men are oftentimes snared in their owne deuises Eighthly But yet those lawes which they call seuerity were milde and mercifull and not proportionable to the greatnesse of their offence neither like in crueltie to the bloodie lawes in the time of Queene Maries gouernement against the constant professors of the Protestāt Religion the purpose of these Statutes being to secure the Queene and to continue her subiects in their

that State where the authority of the Prince is deuided or rather translated into the person of another as in the case of Popish Supremacie is most euident Sixthly Againe to inherit by succession of blood which is of very speciall consideration is by this forraigne Supremacie much indangered because where this power is granted there is also giuen to the Pope the power to alter and dispose of Kings and Kingdomes at his pleasure and to translate the inheritance of States according as hee shall please to fauour or dis-fauour the true owners whereof many times hath ensued much misery and many calamities So that I verily thinke there is no part of Christendome that hath not had a wofull experience in this great misery That were the Prince or the cause neuer so Iust and holy or the Pope and his wicked life neuer so apparantly euill yet by this vniuersall power hee had power giuen him to alter the State and to translate Succession at his pleasure pretending a Religious good but intending eyther the aduancement of his base kindred or else some other enuious and euill end And how dangerous this may bee to a Kingdome let any Iudgement determine Lastly this inconuenience doth follow of Popish Supremacie the practise of so many Treasons wherewith the name of Christendome is much spotted For he that is resolued the sufficiencie of other mens writings to this purpose This onely Argument that whereas by the testimonie of holy Scripture wee are taught to know that man of sinne whom the spirit of God calleth Antichrist by this speciall sensible signe of pride in that he being but man shall presume to exalt himselfe aboue all that is called God Now that Kings and Princes of the Earth are by the sentence of Scripture called Gods it is most euident in that place where he saith I haue said yee are Gods that is neerest to my selfe in your dignitie of place representing my power and my Maiesty in the highest degree vpon Earth Then whosoeuer shall exalt himselfe aboue these degrees of Maiesty must of necessity be he whom the Spirit of God calleth that man of sinne that Antichrist because his sinne is like the sinne of the Diuels in the Creation for as they did so doth he contend for the highest Supremacie and Nymrod-like he buildeth himselfe aloft aboue the reach of Earth reaching his ambition beyond the limits of mortality euen aboue all that is called God Eighthly And therefore great reason had the King and so haue all the Kings of the Earth to cast off all friendly intertainement with him that would exalt himselfe aboue all flesh nay aboue all that is called God and I am verily perswaded that this one respect of pride is that marke whereby shee is best knowne to bee that Babylon with whose Fornications the whole Earth hath bene poysoned yet in these latter times hath shee got more vgly visors to maske in Blood and Treason two such deformities as would be very apparant in the face of Religion And God no doubt hath set these markes in her fore-head as he marked Cain that all his beloued in the world might know her at the first blush and auoide the filth of her Fornications For where those euills are God is not in the honour of his seruice but in his Iustice and angry Maiesty CHAP. V. Of the suppressing of Abbeyes and Religious Houses in England FIRST the worke of Gods prouidence is most worthy of consideration leading by variable turnings the passage of all transitory things to that end whereto God hath decreed them In which worke howsoeuer God doth neuer change the purpose of his will yet the euents many times seeme very admirable to our v●derstandings by reason of their change and varieties For all things in this world are in continuall motion being moued as shall please the hand of prouidence euery thing being like the mouing Sea sometimes flowing sometimes in their ebb againe sometimes vp sometimes downe according as shall please that power that moues them And from this mouing cause is deriued that variety in the state of Earth which men falsly call Fortune the often change whereof to a Christian Iudgement is not strange because he considereth the power that God hath ouer all his creatures and how inclinable they be to alteration Secondly And for particular instances Though Religion before these times had indured an euill change changing the truth for many superstitious Ceremonies yet so venerable was the name of Religion to the people of those times as notwithstanding their misconceiuing the truth thereof they gaue such large demonstrations of loue and zeale to that profession and the Professors as no people at any time did euer exceed them inriching the state of Religion both with honourable regard and with very ample possessions Insomuch as the Church then might rather seeme a Triumphant then a Church Militant So high was it exalted in the degrees of worldly prosperity yet for all this flourish God commeth with his rod of correction and finding euill in the greatnesse thereof he alters their present Condition that as they had forsaken the truth of his seruice So hee would bereaue them their earthly honour wherewith the true name of their false Religion was gorgeously decked Thirdly The first cause then of this alteration was God himselfe who when hee seeth the vessell of mens iniquity full he filleth his violl with wrath to reforme and correct what euill men had before deformed and being most Iealous of his honour hee commeth with more then common corrections to reforme the truth of his seruice For so did God at this time his angry hand reaching destruction beyond the liues of those euill men euen to their lands houses and possessions making King Henry vtterly extirpe these abused Monasteries as the Israelites did the Cananites for their monstrous and heathenish sinnes And therefore no doubt did God make particular choise of King Henry for his instrument fitting him with extraordinary spirit that he might the better mannage this great businesse whereto God had ordained him and wherein God did wonderfully assist him Fourthly But what might moue the King in respect of himselfe many men many waies coniecture Some by the spoyle of these houses that he might inrich himselfe and relieue the occasions of his Warres which then did much distresse him But howsoeuer this hath credit with him that writeth this Storie at large yet in that opinion I doe not beleeue him For it is not likely that any Christian Prince in the world would for any respect of spoyle destroy the estates of so many at that time reputed Religious and Godly men Others thinke the King did this out of Stomacke the Pope being then in full opposition with the King for taking Supremacie from him in the Church of England that had but lately giuen to him his Successors for euer the title of Defendor of

it and the holiest dispised it and that which doth stay them from the fruition of eternall happinesse and tie them to the bondage of flesh which of all other prisons is most slauish especially to a soule of diuine and heauenly contemplation For the holy men of all ages haue neuer thought it burden some to die but haue desired death to release them from the miseries of life neither haue they feared the Image of death when it hath bene presented in the most dreadfull forme that Tyrants and wicked men could deuise because such men make their life but seruant to their death desiring onely to liue to the glorie of their God that so they may die in his fauour for such death setteth open the gates of eternity whereas euery houre of this our transitory life is subiect to many deaths and many hard extremities Secondly The experience of this is common and therefore lesse admirable neither is it strange that Christian men should dispise transitorie life and the vaine glory of flesh because they are bound thereto by the dutie of Christianity Christ himselfe the examples of Christians both commanding and commending it And therefore is this obedienc● most worthie in the Children of Grace but most strange in the sonnes of Nature such as haue onely a generall vnderstanding of God and of his mighty power not knowing him in his mercie nor in the hope of saluation who by the naturall iudgement of sence could iudge the miseries of mans life and therefore would preferre death before a life so vnconstant and variable Such were the noble spirits of many worthy men in former ages and such were many of those graue and learned Philosophers who contemned the vaine glorie of mans life and triumphed in the hope of death being their comfort and that wich in their opinion would conclude their infinite trauell and secure them in the pleasure of perpetuall rest And such were they who vnderstanding the immortality of the soule and how the faculties thereof were letted in their diuine offices by the indisposition of their bodies and the naturall pronenesse thereof to aduersity and euill would by violent death haue freed their soules from the prison of their flesh The which howsoeuer it was by the rule of Religion both damnable and foolish yet they not knowing Religion nor the duty of conscience gaue a notable demonstration how much they esteemed death more than a life so full of misery and change Thirdly Such is the miserable condition of mans life as that euery minute thereof is subiect to euill change no man hauing power to resist the infinite number of occasions that daily threaten him insomuch as if God withdraw his prouidence and leaue vs to our guidance we are then the most miserable of all others hauing more to afflict vs than all the other creatures of God because by our offending the Lord of all wee haue made both him and them our enemies So that all occasions and euery worke of nature watch the aduantage of Gods sufferance to reuenge themselues on man for whose sinne they haue indured the curse of euill And from hence doth issue the infinite number of grieuances which continually threaten the prosperity of mans life whereby the most pleasurable time of mans life is subiect to this great misery that hee cannot secure any little continuance of those pleasures wherin he so delighteth neither can hee preuent the sorrowes of his life nor rid himselfe from the least of them neither can he as he is naturall with any patience beare them So that both with them and without them he is most miserable and so for euer would be if the mercie of God did not supplie to this weakenesse and euill condition of our Nature Fourthly Now to relate some particulars of these infinite miseries I first begin with sicknesse an infirmity that beginneth with our life and endeth in our graue which God hath ordained to subdue the pride of mans nature least being puft vp with too much prosperity we should forget that wee are mortall and but creatures And this in a double respect is very grieuous to our Natures first in respect of the diuersity of sicknesses which being infinite in number seeme like so many enemies to threaten our tranquillity and quiet Secondly in respect of our selues all men being at all times subiect to all infirmities And therefore they that haue heaped the glory and treasure of this worlde and seeme to ingrosse the pleasures of this life are notwithstanding arrested by sicknesse and that many times with such violence as they earnestly desire death to release them of the miseries of life neither is the basest condition of men exempt from this generall infirmitie the rich the poore the base and the Noble being in this respect equalls all men being alike seruants to the sorrow of sicknesse whose generall power preuailes to the destruction of all flesh Fifthly Another maine grieuance is pouerty of life which doth depresse the spirits of many which otherwise would rise to those deseruings which in the iudgement of the world are most honourable And this is both in it selfe euill and a punishment for sinne also in generall opinion it is most hatefull and that which almost all men carefully shunne because in the reputation of the world men are estimated not according to their being what they are but after their hauing how much they are in the fauour of fortune And such men are onely esteemed honourable and best worthy who are most worth in vaine and vile possessions the better sort of men commonly enioying the least part of those earthly blessings which God hath giuen his creatures by which vneuen distribution it commeth to passe that many times the honourable man hath the vilde place and the vilde man the honourable the seruant many times exceeding his Lord in the true worth of honesty and vertue by whom he is exceeded in vaine glory and honour And this must needs be a great deiection to such as haue spirit to vnderstand themselues for when men liue in a disproportion to their worth it exceedingly blunteth that alacrity and good spirit which in a better condition of fortune would be gracefull And surely it cannot but grieue the spirit of vnderstanding men to see the blockish and most vnworthie like idols with ornaments and trappings to be inuested with dignities and high preferments that onely know to vse those dignities to their couetous profit and not to any honourable deseruing And though pouerty to a good man be but like the foyle to a diamond to make it appeare the more beautifull yet generally to mankinde it is most hatefull and that which is onely indured by necessity and Christian patience begetting many times most dangerous discontentments in them of best apprehension and obscuring the gifts of God and nature which otherwise