Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	great_a	part_n	3,256	5	4.2928	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35351	Sadducimus debellatus: or, a true narrative of the sorceries and witchcrafts exercis'd by the devil and his instruments upon Mrs. Christian Shaw, daughter of Mr. John Shaw, of Bargarran in the County of Renfrew in the West of Scotland, from Aug. 1696 to Apr. 1697. Containing the journal of her sufferings, as it was exhibited and prov'd by the voluntary confession of some of the witches, and other unexceptionable evidence, before the Commissioners appointed by the Privy Council of Scotland to enquire into the same. Collected from the records. Together with reflexions upon witchcraft in general, and the learned arguments of the lawyers, on both sides, at the trial of seven of those witches who were condemned: and some passages which happened at their execution.	Cullen, Francis Grant, Lord, 1658-1726.	1698 (1698)	Wing C7475A; ESTC R215462	80,964	71

of 'em undeniable Instances of Witches and Witchcraft There are also Prophesies of False Christs with signes and wonders able to deceive if posible the very Elect General Councils have made Canons against those Wretches and the experimental Knowledge of injured Mortalls in all Ages with the publick Sentences of Courts of Judicature thereupon are delivered down to us by all Historians Pet. Mamo●…ius in his Book de Lamiis gives us an account that Gulielmus Linensis a Popish Doctor was justly put to Death tho he dyed Penitent he having confessed Witchcraft had the written Covenant with Satan in his Pocket and own'd that his share of the Devils Service was to Preach and perswade people that Witches were only silly deluded Melancholians and therefore their Confessions were no proof His success in this work of Darkness was such that the People and Judges did Slacken their procedure against those Miscreants by which means the Witches were vastly multiply'd in a few Years as we are told by the same Author who gives an account of the whole Process from authentick Records It is observ'd that Satan has ofttimes chang'd his Scene in the different periods of time and turned himself into such Shapes as he found most convenient for his purpose ●…o that the manner of his Apparition has been different according to the state of the Times Of old he appeared Devil like and was worshiped as such by those that deprecated his Mischeif as some of the barbarous Indians do to this day In the darkness of Popery he was transformed into a more innocent sort of Spirit called Brounie or Fairie that pretended to fortell Deaths to reveal the Deceaseds will discover hidden Murders and do other friendly Offices c. Which were subtile means of inducing people to rely on him Those Spirits were then very frequent he having the impudence thus to appear openly proportiona●…ly ●…o the knowledge of Men over whom his reign was so universal And as Travellers and Authors in●…orm u●… he continues to do so in the more Northerly Regions to this day But since the Ligh●… of the Gospel has broke out in our Horison he oftner works externally by Magicians and Witches and internally on the lusts of Men being now mostly restrain'd to his own Sphere or Subjects Yet still he ensnares too many partly by aping the Ordinances of God especially as they are corrupted in the Romish Church whence so many Monks and Nuns as being well 〈◊〉 ●…o his hand have been easily overcome by him Thus he keeps publick 〈◊〉 in the Night as things of extraordinary merit They formally worship him by many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●…e imprints on them a kind of Sacrament He inflicts dread●…ul Penances on such 〈◊〉 have not executed the commanded mischiefs He teaches them odd word ●…nd ●…ignes upon repeating of which Exorcisms he effects the Operations agreed on beforehaud But though what he does of himself or by the Watch-word of Sorcerers or Witches may by collection and an artful disposal of Matter and Form appear very surprising Yet he cannot work against Nature or overturn the Course of it since that is only in the Power of its Author who alone can do true Miracles or know immediatly the thoughts of Men. It is probable moreover that since the Fall Satans natural Power is below that of good Angels and it is certain that he is often baffled in his Designs by Providence yet beyond all doubt he retains so much poweras being permitted by God is sufficient to bring about by unseen natural Means most of the extraordinary Appearances that the Generality of the Learned have ascribed to him And particularly those in the subsequent Narrative Many of which tho they are beyond the Efficiency of Disease Deceit or any visible Cause yet may be the Effects of some such unperceived Means as follow There is no difficulty in Satan's transmiting in a short time an Account of Things which are past since it s known he goes to and fro in the Earth Yea he may have certainly foretold some future Events as that of Alexander's Success against Persia c. seeing he understands and may steal the great Revolutions of the World out of the Prophets wherein they are so graphically described Or he may discover his own Resolutions whenever he is commissioned or permitted to execute a Judgment as in the case of those who for seeking their Horoscops are given over to him by God and thus he gave Saul an exact account of his own End by the Philistines But without some such aids Satan can only guess like a Phisician by the Symptoms or a Politician by the Crisis of States which is the Cause that most of his Oracles are Ambiguous His transporting of Witches is elsewhere explained He can raise Hurricanes as appears in Iob which are known to carry very ponderous Bodies over great Tracts of Sea and Land It s easy for him to Condense a part of the Vehicle which may protect the Breathing and yet cut the Air like the Fence of Dyvers c. the beak of a Sloop In which also he affects the magnifying of his own natural Power and to make his followers believe that it is no less then that of the good Angels who transported Ezekiel and Elijah through the Air. His covering of the Witches from sight at some times is also cleared from the difficulties which seem to attend it in another place of this Book Where it appears very possible that his skill in Opticks Reflection and Refraction of Light c. To which his Power and Agility as a Spirit Subministrats Materials may effect all that can be prov'd to be matter of Fact in that Case Glanvil More and others lay down another Hypothesis in both viz. That the Soul is separable from the Body in some Cases without Death When by God's Permission Satan with the parties Consent gets power over both Soul and Body whereby he may carry away the one from the Helm of the other and bring it back again into its Seat provided the vital Spirits which make the Body a fit Receptacle be well preserved by Ointments that constrict the Pores till the return of its Guest But Death ensues from a Separation when the Organs of the Body are rendred altogether unapt to obey the Soul's Commands in its Functions If such an opinion could be true Satan might imploy this captivated Spirit to actuat any shape he thinks fit But there needs not so much Metaphysicks to unridle the Appearances of Witches in the shape of Beasts and the like Since their real Persons may be covered with a Vehicle which by disposal of the Rays comming from it may deceive the Eyes by the same Impressions that come from the true sight of such things His power of representing another thing in lieu of that which is truly present is so certain that it 's found he may make up the Image or Resemblance of Persons who are not present at all For it is not doubted but

her back from the Faries and her Repute of being a VVitch is of an Old Date besides her being named often by the Bewitched Girl As to the Lindsays they all have the Mark and were all of a long time Reputed to be VVitches Iohn Lindsay of Barloch was accidentally discovered by the Girles taking a Fit upon his coming to the House Iohn and Iames Lindsays were Accused by a Confessing VVitch in Anno 1687 VVhich Confession is Publickly Read before you And there was Money given to the Sheriff-depute for the delaying of the Pursute Iames Lindsay appeared to William Semple suddenly and Flew about like a Fowl for an opportunity to strike him in Revenge of the Quarrel mention'd in the Deposition and at last prevailed to strike him dead over a VVall. And Finally which is a Remarkable Indication both of Truth and Providence the very VVitnesses adduced in Defence of the Lindsays Deponed so clearly against them even beyond the Pursuers VVitnesses that their Advocate was daunted at it and thereupon desisted from calling any more VVitnesses to be Examined in their Defence It is true some of these Indications may be in One and others of them in Another either from Nature or Accident and yet that Person not be a VVitch But it was never heard or read that all these Indications which are so many Discoveries by Providence of a crime that might otherways have remain'd in the dark did ever concur in one and the same Individual Person that was Innocent Yea on the contrary they by the VVisdom and Experience of all Nations do as convincingly discover a VVitch as the symptoms of a Leprosie concerted by all Physicians argue the Person affected with the same to be Leprous But grant they are not sufficient of themselves yet their Tendency and Meaning being cleared and applyed to their proper cause by a plain and positive Probation There wants no more to determine you as to the Prisoners Guilt And therefore Thirdly As to the Third Part of the Probation VVe remit the Positive Depositions of the Confessants and against whom they do concurr wholly to your own Perusal and Examination Only be pleased to take notice First Some things which very much Add to the Credibility of their Testimonies arise from their Examination in Court Secondly We shall Explain to you the Import of the Word Nota which is added to the Decree of the Judges admitting these last Witnesses As to the First Elizabeth Anderson is of sufficient age being Seventeen yet so young and punctual that her Deposition appears no effect of Melancholly She accused her Father to his face when he wa●… dying in the prison as now there are two of her Aunts in the Inditment which certainly must proceed from the strength of Truth since even Dives retain'd a natural affection to his Relations She went on foot to the Meetings with her Father except only that the Devil transported them over the Water of Clyde which was easy to the Prince of the Air who does far greater things by his Hurri-canes she tells that Montgomeries House was Meallie when his Child was strangled And she declares that she never renounced her Baptism but was carried along by the compulsion of a Parent So that nothing can be objected against her Testimony in any Judgement much less in an Excepted Crime Iames Lindsay it is true is of less import yet by his Weeping when he came in and was admonished of the greatness of his guilt it appears that he had a Sense of it he hath a natural Precipitancy in what he speaks yet that is commonly the concomitant of Ingenuity as importing his Expressions not to be fore-thought He concurrs in most things with the others and yet he has declared that he saw not Margaret Fulton at Dumbartoun c. Which implys that he does not file the Prisoners all at Randome but tells what occurred to his Senses c. Ianet and Margaret Rodgers are instances of a singular Providence for they did confess the same Morning that the Court did last sit of their own proper motion there being neither Ministers nor Judges by them at the time Agnes Naismith is Ianets Relation and she tells that she never saw Katharine Campbel as Margaret declares that she did not see Iohn Lindsay of Barloch which plainly demonstrats that they tell only the dictats of their Natural Conscience arising from discretion and knowledge of the true matters of Fact They both professed their Repentance last Sabbath in the Church And do persist with a great Firmness and you see their Deportment in deponing to be Congruous and Exact Thomas Lindsay and Christian Shaw being under age we did not press their being put to an Oath yet you saw that they did declare in Court against these Criminals in such an Harmony with the rest of the Deponents and gave such a cause of their knowledge That it is certain their youngness in years Adds extreamly to the Credit of their Testimony Because thereby it is incredible that they could have contrived or executed the acting so by Concert As to the Second Since these Witnesses are admitted by the Judges it necessarily inplyes that they meant them to be probative only they added the words Cum nota That is you must take notice or Notandum est That there must something else concurr to prove the Guilt of the Prisoners besides the Depositions of any two such Witnesses But so it is that all the Circumstantial Evidence on which you have seen Probation led for more then Sixteen Hours of your time are strenghtening Evidences of those Witnesses Credibility and cannot but have been taken notice of by you as inferring the same things which they Depone Whereby the Nota is fully taken off by the concurrence of four other positive Testimonys agreeing with that of two of these Witnesses by the Extraordinariness of the corpora delicti by the Probability of Circumstances And finally by the whole Chain of this Affair and the Sparkles of an Infernal Fire which in every place have broke out of it It is true there are some few of the Circumstances that are proven only by one Witness But as to this you may consider 1st That a Witness Deponing de facto proprio is in Law more credited than any other single Witness And this is the present Case as to some of the Circumstances 2dly The Antecedent Concomitant and Subsequent Circumstances of Fact do sustain the Testimony and makes the Semi-plenary Probations to become full But 3dly The other Circumstances undoubtedly proven by concurring Witnesses are per se sufficient And therefore you saw us at the desire of the Judges forbear to call the far greatest part of our Witnesses because the time had already run to so great a length and it was thought that there was already enough proven of presumptions For it may as reasonably be imagined that the most Regular and Curious Scheme had emerged from the fortuitous concourse of Atoms roving without Rule