Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	old_a	young_a	youth_n	300	4	8.2577	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67470	The lives of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Mr. Richard Hooker, Mr. George Herbert written by Izaak Walton ; to which are added some letters written by Mr. George Herbert, at his being in Cambridge : with others to his mother, the Lady Magdalen Herbert ; written by John Donne, afterwards dean of St. Pauls.	Walton, Izaak, 1593-1683.	1670 (1670)	Wing W671; ESTC R15317	178,870	410

perceive it went not through all for one writ to me that some and he said of my friends conceived I was not so ill as I pretended but withdrew my self to live at ease discharged of preaching It is an unfriendly and God knows an ill-grounded interpretation for I have alwayes been sorrier when I could not preach than any could be they could not hear me It hath been my desire and God may be pleased to grant it that I might dye in the Pulpit if not that yet that I might take my death in the Pulpit that is dye the sooner by occasion of those labours Sir I hope to see you presently after Candlemas about which time will fall my Lent-Sermon at Court except my Lord Chamberlain believe me to be dead and so leave me out of the Roll but as long as I live and am not speechless I would not willingly decline that service I have better leisure to write than you to read yet I would not willingly oppress you with too much Letter God bless you and your Son as I wish Your poor friend and servant in Christ Jesus J. Donne Before that month ended he was appointed to preach upon his old constant day the first Friday in Lent he had notice of it and had in his sickness so prepared for that imployment that as he had long thirsted for it so he resolved his weakness should not hinder his journey he came therefore to London some few dayes before his appointed day of preaching At his coming thither many of his friends who with sorrow saw his sickness had left him onely so much flesh as did onely cover his bones doubted his strength to perform that task and did therefore disswade him from undertaking it assuring him however it was like to shorten his life but he passionately denied their requests saying he would not doubt that that God who in so many weaknesses had assisted him with an unexpected strength would now withdraw it in his last employment professing an holy ambition to perform that sacred work And when to the amazement of some beholders he appeared in the Pulpit many of them thought he presented himself not to preach mortification by a living voice but mortality by a decayed body and dying face And doubtless many did secretly ask that question in Ezekiel Do these bones live or can that soul organize that tongue to speak so long time as the sand in that glass will move towards its centre and measure out an hour of this dying mans unspent life Doubtless it cannot and yet after some faint pauses in his zealous prayer his strong desires enabled his weak body to discharge his memory of his preconceived meditations which were of dying the Text being To God the Lord belong the issues from death Many that then saw his tears and heard his faint and hollow voice professing they thought the Text prophetically chosen and that Dr. Donne had preach't his own funeral Sermon Being full of joy that God had enabled him to perform this desired duty he hastened to his house out of which he never moved till like St. Stephen he was carried by devout men to his Grave The next day after his Sermon his strength being much wasted and his spirits so spent as indisposed him to business or to talk A friend that had often been a witness of his free and facetious discourse asked him Why are you sad To whom he replied with a countenance so full of cheerful gravity as gave testimony of an inward tranquillity of mind and of a soul willing to take a farewell of this world And said I am not sad but most of the night past I have entertained my self with many thoughts of several friends that have left me here and are gone to that place from which they shall not return And that within a few dayes I also shall go hence and be no more seen And my preparation for this change is become my nightly meditation upon my bed which my infirmities have now made restless to me But at this present time I was in a serious contemplation of the providence and goodness of God to me who am less than the least of his mercies and looking back upon my life past I now plainly see it was his hand that prevented me from all temporal employment and it was his Will that I should never settle nor thrive till I entred into the Ministry in which I have now liv'd almost twenty years I hope to his glory and by which I most humbly thank him I have been enabled to require most of those friends which shewed me kindness when my fortune was very low as God knows it was and as it hath occasioned the expression of my gratitude I thank God most of them have stood in need of my requital I have liv'd to be useful and comfortable to my good Father-in-law Sir George Moore whose patience God hath been pleased to exercise with many temporal Crosses I have maintained my own Mother whom it hath pleased God after a plentiful fortune in her younger dayes to bring to a great decay in her very old age I have quieted the Consciences of many that have groaned under the burthen of a wounded spirit whose prayers I hope are available for me I cannot plead innocency of life especially of my youth But I am to be judged by a merciful God who is not willing to see what I have done amiss And though of my self I have nothing to present to him but sins and misery yet I know he looks not upon me now as I am of my self but as I am in my Saviour and hath given me even at this time some testimonies by his Holy Spirit that I am of the number of his Elect I am therefore full of joy and shall dye in peace I must here look so far back as to tell the Reader that at his first return out of Essex to preach his last Sermon his old Friend and Physitian Dr. Fox a man of great worth came to him to consult his health and that after a sight of him and some queries concerning his distempers he told him That by Cordials and drinking milk twenty dayes together there was a probability of his restauration to health but he passionately denied to drink it Nevertheless Dr. Fox who loved him most intirely wearied him with sollicitations till he yielded to take it for ten dayes at the end of which time he told Dr. Fox he had drunk it more to satisfie him than to recover his health and that he would not drink it ten dayes longer upon the best moral assurance of having twenty years added to his life for he loved it not and that he was so far from fearing death which is the King of terrors that he longed for the day of his dissolution It is observed that a desire of glory or commendation is rooted in the very nature of man and that those of the severest and most mortified lives though they may

continued bounty might intitle themselves to be his Alms-people for all these he made provision and so largely as having then six children living might to some appear more than proportionable to his Estate I forbear to mention any more lest the Reader may think I trespass upon his patience but I will beg his favour to present him with the beginning and end of his Will In the Name of the blessed and glorious Trinity Amen I John Donne by the mercy of Christ Jesus and by the calling of the Church of England Priest being at this time in good health and perfect understanding praised be God therefore do hereby make my last Will and Testament in manner and form following First I give my gracious God an intire sacrifice of body and soul with my most humble thanks for that assurance which his blessed Spirit imprints in me now of the salvation of the one and the Resurrection of the other and for that constant and chearful resolution which the same Spirit hath establisht in me to live and dye in the Religion now professed in the Church of England In expectation of that Resurrection I desire my body may be buried in the most private manner that may be in that place of St. Pauls Church London that the now Residentiaries have at my request designed for that purpose c. And this my l●st Will and Testament made in the fear of God whose mercy I humbly beg and constantly relie upon in Jesus Christ and in perfect love and charity with all the world whose pardon I ask from the lowest of my servants to the highest of my Superiors written all with my own hand and my name subscribed to every page of which there are five in number Sealed Decem. 13. 1630. Nor was this blessed sacrifice of Charity expressed onely at his death but in his life also by a cheerful and frequent visitation of any friend whose mind was dejected or his fortune necessitous he was inquisitive after the wants of Prisoners and redeemed many from thence that lay for their Fees or small Debts he was a continual Giver to poor Scholars both of this and foreign Nations Besides what he gave with his own hand he usually sent a Servant or a discreet and trusty Friend to distribute his Charity to all the Prisons in London at all the Festival times of the year especially at the Birth and Resurrection of our Saviour He gave an hundred pounds at one time to an old Friend whom he had known live plentifully and by a too liberal heart and carelesness became decayed in his Estate and when the receiving of it was denied by the Gentlemans saying He wanted not for as there be some spirits so generous as to labour to conceal and endure a sad poverty rather than those blushes that attend the confession of it so there be others to whom Nature and Grace have afforded such sweet and compassionate souls as to pity and prevent the Distresses of Mankind which I have mentioned because of Dr. Donne's Reply whose Answer was I know you want not what will sustain nature for a little will do that but my desire is that you who in the dayes of your plenty have cheered and raised the hearts of so many of your dejected friends would now receive this from me and use it as a cordial for the cheering of your own and so it was received He was an happy reconciler of many differences in the Families of his Friends and Kindred which he never undertook faintly for such undertakings have usually faint effects and they had such a faith in his judgement and impartiality that he never advised them to any thing in vain He was even to her death a most dutiful Son to his Mother careful to provide for her supportation of which she had been destitute but that God raised him up to prevent her necessities who having sucked in the Religion of the Roman Church with her Mothers Milk spent her Estate in foreign Countreys to enjoy a liberty in it and died in his house but three Moneths before him And to the end it may appear how just a Steward he was of his Lord and Masters Revenue I have thought fit to let the Reader know that after his entrance into his Deane●y as he numbred his years he at the foot of a private account to which God and his Angels were only witnesses with him computed first his Revenue then what was given to the Poor and other Pious Uses and lastly what rested for him and his he then blest each years poor remainder with a thankful Prayer which for that they discover a more than common Devotion the Reader shall partake some of them in his own words So all is that remains this year Deo Opt. Max benigno Largitori à me● ab iis Quibus haec à me reservantur Gloria gratia in aeternum Amen So that this year God hath blessed me and mine with Multiplicatae a sunt super Nos misericordiae tuae Domine Da Domine ut quae ex immensâ Bonitate tu● nobis elargiri Dignatus sis in quorumcunque Manus devenerint in tuam Semper cedant gloriam Amen In fine horum sex Annorum manet Quid habeo quod non accepi à Domino Largitur etiam ut quae largitus est Sua iterum fiant bono eorum usu ut Quemadmodum nec officiis hujus mundi Nec loci in quo me posuit dignitati nec Servis nec egenis in toto hujus anni Curriculo mihi conscius sum me defuisse Ita liberi quibus quae supersunt Supersunt grato animo ea accipiant Et beneficum authorem recognescant Amen But I return from my long Digression We left the Author sick in Essex where he was forced to spend much of that Winter by reason of his disability to remove from that place And having never for almost twenty years omitted his personal attendance on His Majesty in that month in which he was to attend and preach to him nor having ever been left out of the Roll and number of Lent-Preachers and there being then in January 1630. a report brought to London or raised there that Dr. Donne was dead That report gave him occasion to write this following Letter to a dear friend Sir This advantage you and my other friends have by my frequent fevers that I am so much the oftner at the gates of Heaven and this advantage by the solitude and close imprisonment that they reduce me to after that I am so much the oftner at my prayers in which I shall never leave out your happiness and I doubt not among his other blessings God will add some one to you for my prayers A man would almost be content to dye if there were no other benefit in death to hear of so much sorrow and so much good testimony from good men as I God be blessed for it did upon the report of my death yet I

charitable life may so win upon others as to bring glory to my Jesus whom I have this day taken to be my Master and Governour and am so proud of his service that I will alwayes observe and obey and do his Will and alwayes call him Jesus my Master and I will alwayes contemn my birth or any title or dignity that can be conferr'd upon me when I shall compare them with any title of being a Priest and serving at the Altar of Jesus my Master And that he did so may appear in many parts of his Book of Sacred Poems especially in that which he calls the Odour In which he seems to rejoyce in his thoughts of that word Jesus and to say the adding these words my Master to it and the often repetition of them seem'd to persume his mind and leave an oriental fragrancy in his very breath And for his unforc'd choice to serve at Gods Altar he seems in another place the Pearl Matth. 13. to rejoyce and say He knew the wayes of Learning knew what nature does willingly and what when 't is for●'d by fire knew the wayes of honour and when glory ●nclines the Soul to noble expressions know ●●● Court knew the wayes of pleasure of lo●● of wit of musick and upon what terms he declined all these for the service of his Master Jesus and concludes saying That through these Labyrinths not my groveling Wit But thy Silk-twist let down from Heaven to me Did both conduct and teach me how by it To climb to thee The third day after he was made Rector of Bemerton and had chang'd his sword and silk Cloaths into a Canonical Coat he return'd so habited with his friend Mr. Woodnot to Bainton And immediately after he had seen and saluted his Wife he said to her You are now a Ministers Wife and must now so far forget your fathers house as not to claim a precedence of any of your Parishioners for you are to know that a Priests Wife can challenge no precedence or place but that which she purchases by her obliging humility and I am sure places so purchased do best become them And let me tell you That I am so good a Herald as to assure you that this is truth And she was so mee● a Wife as to assure him it was no vexing News to her and that he should see her observe it with a chearful willingness And indeed her unforc'd humility that humility that was in her so original as to be born with her made her so happy as to do so and her doing so begot her an unfeigned love and a serviceable respect from all that converst with her and this love followed her in all places as inseparably as shadows follow substances in Sun-shine It was not many dayes before he return'd back to Bemerton to view the Church and repair the Chancel and indeed to re-build three parts of his house which was fall'n down by reason of his Predecessors living at a better Parsonage house namely at Minal 16 or 20 miles from this place At which time of Mr. Herberts coming alone to Bemerton there came to him a poor old Woman with an intent to acquaint him with her necessitous condition and with some troubles of her mind but after she had spoke some few words to him she was surpriz'd with a fear and shortness of breath so that her spirits and speech fail'd her which he perceiving did so compassionate her that he took her by the hand and said Speak good Mother be not afraid to speak to me for I am a man that will hear you with patience and will relieve your necessities too if I be able and this I will do willingly and therefore Mother be not afraid to acquaint me with what you desire After which comfortable speech he again took her by the hand made her sit down by him and understanding she was of his Parish he told her He would be acquainted with her and take her into his care And having with patience heard and understood her wants and it is some relief to be but hear'd with patience he comforted her by his meek behaviour and counsel but because that cost him nothing he reliev'd her with money too and so sent her home with a chearful heart praising God and praying for him Thus worthy and like Davids blessed man thus lowly was Mr. George Herbert in his own eyes At his return that Night to his Wife at Bainton he gave her an account of the passages 'twixt him and the poor Woman with which she was so affected that she went next day to Salisbury and there bought a pair of Blankets and sent them as a Token of her love to the poor Woman and with them a Message That she would see and be acquainted with her when her house was built at Bemerton There be many such passages both of him and his Wife of which some few will be related but I shall first tell that he hasted to get the Parish-Church repair'd then to beautifie the Chappel which stands near his house and that at his own great charge He then proceeded to re-build the Parsonage-house which he did also very compleatly and at his own charge and having done this good work he caus'd these Verses to be writ upon or ingraven in the Mantle of the Chimney in his Hall TO MY SUCCESSOR If thou chance for to find A new House to thy mind And built without thy Cost Be good to the Poor As God gives thee store And then my Labour 's not lost We will now by the Readers favour suppose him fixt at Bemerton and grant him to have seen the Church repair'd and the Chappel belonging to it very decently adorn'd at his own great charge which is a real Truth and having now fixt him there I shall proceed to give an account of the rest of his behaviour to his Parishioners and those many others that knew him Doubtless Mr. Herbert had consider'd and given Rules to himself for his Christian carriage both to God and man before he enter'd into Holy Orders And 't is not unlike but that he renewed those resolutions at his prostration before the Holy Altar at his Induction into the Church of Bemerton but as yet he was but a Deacon and therefore long'd for the next Ember-week that he might be ordain'd Priest and made capable of administring both the Sacraments At which time the Reverend Doctor Humphrey Hinchman now Lord Bishop of London who does not mention him but with some veneration for the life and excellent learning of Mr. George Herbert tells me He laid his hand on Mr. Herberts Head and alas within less than three Years lent his Shoulder to carry his dear Friend to his Grave And that Mr. Herbert might the better preserve those holy Rules which such a Priest as he intended to be ought to observe and that time might not insensibly blot them out of his memory but the next year shew him his variations from