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	know_v	nature_n	1,522	5	5.1798	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16950	A true discourse, vpon the matter of Martha Brossier of Romorantin pretended to be possessed by a deuill. Translated out of French into English, by Abraham Hartvvel.; Discours veritable sur le faicte de Marthe Brossier. English.	Marescot, Michel, 1539-1605, attributed name. aut; Pietre, Simon, ca. 1525-1584, attributed name. aut; Le Bouthillier, attributed name. aut; Hartwell, Abraham, b. 1553.	1599 (1599)	STC 3841; ESTC S113238	24,481	52

the said Martha fell downe at the rehearsall of certaine words raised her selfe vp againe very lustily made mowes vpon the Exorcists euen to their faces and nothing else was then done sauing that Duret pricked her with a pin betweene the thumbe and the forefinger After these actions diuerse times reiterated vntill Noone the Bishop demaunded of Ellain and Duret what they deemed of it But they intreated the Bishop it might stand with his good pleasure that the other Phisitians which had seene her the day before might be called and others also with them to the end they might more maturely deliberate of the matter especially considering that the said Martha Brossier being commaunded to giue some tokens of her possession by the Deuill had made answere To morrowe which request the Bishop found to bee very reasonable Vpon Thursday the first day of Aprill all mysteries were imployed and vsed none of the remedies were forgotten that are proper to the driuing out of Deuils They setled themselues to prayers She blared out her tongue turned her eyes and at the pronouncing of certaine words Et homo factus est Verbum caro factum est Tantum ergo Sacramentum that is And he was made man The word was made flesh Therefore so great a Sacrament she fell as before and vsed such motions as they doe that are troubled with a Conuulsion Yet all these actions seemed to the Phisitians to be meerly counterfeit and therefore they would haue been gone But my Lord the Bishop intreated them that they would bestow yet a little more time for the publike benefit The Exorcismes or Coniurations were begun againe and then the woman hearing the words Et homo factus est And he was made man she laboured with all her strength and forces to make her gambals and being vpon her backe in foure or fiue skips remoued her selfe from the Altar to the Chappell-dore which indeed did astonish all the companie Father Seraphin waxed somewhat angrie and said If there be any here that is incredulous and will trouble her the Deuill will carie him away in the ayre Then Marescot growing impatient at that cousinage said I will take that hazard and perill vpon me let him carie me away if he can And so set his knee vpō her knee took her by the gorge and commanded her to bee quiet She being not able to stirre her selfe and seeing her cousinage to bee discouered said He is gone he hath left me The good Seraphin approching neere vnto her said Indeede this is nothing but Martha the Deuill is departed Then haue I made him runne away quoth Marescot The Bishop being very desirous to know the trueth and doubting some counterfeiting said Let vs begin againe and pray to God that he would learne vs the trueth let vs see if the Deuill will torment her againe Then they sung Veni Creator and the Apostles Creede At this word Et thomo factus est And he was made man she did not fall nor was tormented any more yea when they shewed her the holy Sacrament she neither was troubled nor tumbled any more but seeing Marescot Hautin and Riolan behinde her she said Meddle thou with thy Phisicke Marescot answered her If thou doe stirre and play the foole againe I will handle thee well enough In the meane while they perseuered in their prayers to God She thinking that Marescot was departed fell againe vpon her backe plaied her old trickes and vsed her ordinarie motions Then Marescot Hautin and Riolan held her and staied her very easily The Bishop began to say to Father Seraphin the Exorcist Good Father command her to rise The good Father cried vnto her with a lowd voyce Raise thy selfe vpon thy feete raise thy selfe vpon thy feete Marescot said The Deuill riseth not in our presence and withall because few people should take offence he spake alowd in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nothing against nature nothing against nature And it is not to bee marueiled at that the said Marescot Hautin and Riolan were not afraid because they knew her dissembling and beleeued in Iesus Christ who is the terror of all Deuils Riolan at the commaundement of the Bishop spake vnto her in Latin as followeth Misera quous perges nobis illudere Nunquámne cessabis plebeculam ludificare Agnosce culpam veniam deprecare Patent enim tuae fraudes nisi hoc feceris breui tradêris in manus Iudicis qui quaestione veritatem extorquebit Thou wretched woman how long wilt thou proceede to delude vs Wilt thou neuer cease to deceiue the simple people Acknowledge thy fault and craue pardon For thy guiles are discouered and vnlesse thou doe so thou shalt shortly bee deliuered into the hands of the Iudge who by torture will wrest out the trueth She being demaunded whether she vnderstood this or no answered in good sooth She did not It was thought that now all this businesse was done and the Bishop withdrew himselfe and went out of the Chappell with diuerse men of good Note and commaunded the Phisitians then being present freely to tell him their opinion and aduise One of them assured him for certaine that she had the Deuill in her bodie because she had blared out her tongue very farre and had indured the pricking of a pinne Another amongst them said that vndoubtedly hee had seene very many signes of counterfeiting but yet his aduise was that they should stay three moneths longer to the end they might be assured whether she had the Deuill in her bodie or no. For Master Fernelius as he writeth in his Second booke De abditis rerum causis Of the secret causes of Nature could not certainly know a certaine sicke gentleman to bee possessed with a Spirit till the end of three moneths Sixe others there were that very confidently and constantly said for certaine all these actions of Martha were fained and dissembled as it was reported on the Tuesday before And therefore it was thought that they were now at the end of this businesse But vpon the Friday and Saturday following being the fourth and fifth daies of Aprill they called other Phisitians omitting the greatest part of those which had seene her before and then they began a new combat with this Fantasticall Deuill One spake certaine Greeke wordes vnto her and she answered in French Another spake in English shee answered in French but yet as some say somewhat to the purpose They obserued her most violent and sudden motions to be without any change either in pulse or in breath or in colour The Phisitians then present made report in many words and magnificall termes that Martha was possessed with a Deuill and signed it with their hands Which report wee will write out hereafter word for word as it is in the Originall While all this was in doing the Parliament fearing that this concourse of people which came to see this new Deuill might breede some new Mo●ster of Sedition whereunto were are all too much

vnto vs in the Chappel of my Lord of Saint Genenefue hearing Masse there celebrated by my Lord the right Reuerend Bishop of Paris and induring the Exorcisme performed on the Friday by Father Benet a Capuchine assisted therein by Father Seraphin a Religious person of the same Order who had exercised her vpon the daies aforesaid and on the Saturday by Master Clerk a Lay Priest assisted by Father of the Order of the Feuillans And there during the said time we saw her sometimes in constitution countenance and speech as a person sound of bodie and minde and sometimes dissigured with diuerse foule vnseemely and deformed lookes and now and then vexed and troubled with many different and furious motions of all the visible parts of her body All the said euill fauoured lookes being either full of a kinde of scoffing deceitfull and consining laughter or very fierce horrible and silent and oftentimes accompanied for the most part with a roaring In the middest of all this sometimes obeying and answering the Priest aswell in gesture as in words vpon commandements and demaunds that were conceiued in Greek Latin and English but as farre as wee did marke more often and more readily to Father Benet then to any other we do say in our consciences and certifie that which followeth That is to say as it may be that all this which is before set downe remaining to bee specified hereafter must necessarily be referred to one of these three causes which are Sicknesse Counterfeiting or Diabolicall possession And for the opinion that it proceeded of Sicknesse we are cleerely excluded from that for that the agitations and motions which we obserued therein doe retaine nothing of the nature of Sicknesses no not of those Diseases whereunto at the first sight they might haue been resembled it being neither an Epilepsie or Falling Sicknesse which alwaies supposeth the losse of sense and iudgement nor the Passion which we call Hysterica or Suffocation of the Matrix which neuer is either without vtter priuation or at least without restraint of breath of which accidents neuer did there any appeare vnto vs. But to the end we be not too long and by excluding generalities to exclude lik●wise all specialties to him that shall looke neere into the matter these motions aforesaid being found not to appertaine to any of the foure motions proceeding of Diseases that is to say Shiuering Trembling Panting and Conuulsion Or indeede if there doe appeare any Conuulsions and that a man will so call the turning vp of her eyes the gnashing of her teeth the writhing of her chaps which are almost ordinarie with this maid while she is in her fits the confidence which the Priest hath when he openeth her mouth and holdeth it open with his finger within it testifying sufficiently that they doe not proceed nor are caused by any disease considering that in Diseases he that hath a Conuulsion is not master of that part or member wherein it is hauing neither any power of Election or commaundement ouer it and particularly in the Conuulsion of the Iawes which is the most violent of all the rest the finger of the Priest should bee no more respected nor spared then the finger of another man but should be as quickly bitten off Adding hereunto moreouer that the accidents of Diseases aswell as the Diseases themselues being found to haue their times of beginning increasing full force and declination these torments here as they first tooke their beginning and mounted to their vttermost extremitie all at once so did they likewise cease all in a moment Diseases and the motions also of Diseases especially those that are violent as they leaue the bodie feeble the visage pale the breath panting this maide on the contrarie at the end of her fittes was found to be as little moued and changed in pulse colour countenance and breath as euer she was before yea which is the more to be noted as little at the end of her Exorcisme as at the beginning at euening as in the morning at the last day as at the first Notwithstanding touching the point of Counterfeiting the insensibilitie of her bodie during her extasies and furies tried by the deepe prickings of long pinnes which were thrust into diuerse parts of her hands and of her necke and afterwards plucked out againe without any shew that euer she made of feeling the same either in the putting in of them or in the taking out of them and also without any mark of blood a griefe which without Magike and without speech could not in our opinion be indured without any countenance or shew thereof neither by the constancie of the most couragious nor by the stoutnesse of the most wicked nor by the strong conceite of the most criminall Malefactors tooke from vs almost the suspition of it but much more perswaded vs from that opinion the thin and slender fome that in her Mad-fits we saw issue out of her mouth which she had no meanes to be able to counterfeit And yet more then all this the very consideration before mentioned of the little or no change at all that was seene in her person after all these most sharpe and very long pangs a thing which no bodie in the world did euer trie in their most moderate exercises we are driuen euen till this houre by all the lawes of discourse and knowledge yea and almost forced to beleeue that this maide is a Daemóniake and the Deuill dwelling in her who is the author of all these effects for that next after the corporall and materiall causes which wee doe not finde to haue had any place in this matter come the spirituall and supernaturall causes in the highest degree whereof acknowledging God to be the Father of grace and mercie and the Angels to bee ordained for the tuition and consolation of Mankinde as Christian Philosophers wee haue learned and know that there is none but the Deuill that delighteth in doing euill Now if wee had seene that which my Lord of Saint Geneuefue and many others doe report that this maide was lifted vp into the ayre more then foure foote aboue fiue or sixe strong persons that held her it would haue been an argument vnto vs of an extraordinarie power ouer and beyond the common nature and condition of man But not being present at that wonder we doe giue a testimonie of our knowledge which is as much or rather more admirable then that force and power was viz. that being demaunded and in her exorcising commaunded my Lord of Paris furnishing the Priest with questions and Interrogatories this maide diuers and sundrie times by many persons of qualitie and worthie of credit was seene and heard to obey and answere to purpose not onely in the Latin tongue wherein it had not been impertinent peraduenture to haue suspected some collusion but also in Greeke and in English and that vpon the sudden She did we say once againe vnderstand the Greeke and English languages wherein wee beleeue

a man had stroke me with a dagger I should not haue bled And thus haue wee philosophically disputed about a pinne somewhat too much The second reason to proue that Martha was possessed with a Deuill is That there appeared in her mouth a certaine kinde of thin foame Who did euer heare any speech of the Deuils foame If it be so there should haue been added that it was also blacke For all that commeth from him being of hell must needes be blacke Yea our good old women vse to say That the Deuill hath no white at all in his eye Who can forbeare laughter to heare that a woman is knowne to be possessed with a Spirit by her foame and spittle The third reason to proue that Martha was possessed with a Spirit is Because she had certaine marueilous violent motions without any alteration either in her pulse or in her breathing or in her colour But truly her motions were not so violent but that certaine Phisitians which could not patiently abide this cousinage could very easily stay her and so would haue done vpon the last daies also when she plaied her part so cunningly if they had been called But Non patebant fores ne pateret veritas The doores were not open for feare least the trueth should haue beene opened Moreouer though the motions of Martha had been violent yet were they very briefe and short for presently she raised her selfe and then the Exorcist said Here is nothing else but Martha But let vs confesse and auow that these her motions were so violent and sudden as they say without any chaunge or alteration in her pulse yet this signifieth that her blood was very thicke and earthie and so could not easily be kindled and therefore we say with Galen that the pulse of such people is very rare We haue oftentimes seene sundrie Melancholike persons not onely many daies and moneths but also many yeeres to haue runne vp and downe crying very strangely and howling like dogs without any change either in pulse or in breathing or in colour Againe vse and custome serueth greatly to this purpose There were fifteene moneths spent in carying of her too and fro like an Ape or a Beare to Angers Saulmur Clery Orleans and Paris in which time they taught her to practise all these gambalds Et quae consueta sunt minus afficere solent The things that are of vse and custome doe not breede any great alteration How many things are there which we doe daily see in Nature to be farre more strange admirable and incredible which notwithstanding are not attributed to Deuils but to the hidden secrets of Nature We see those that are bitten with a mad dogge to barke like dogges Men that are Warewolfes to howle and eate mans flesh like Wolues because they haue their Imagination hurt and thinke themselues to bee Wolues They that are desirous to know more hereof may reade the two bookes of Leuinus Lemnius De occultis Naturae miraculis Of the secret miracles of Nature Mizaldus and Fracastorius in the bookes of Sympathie and Antipathie and Baptista Porta in his Magike Naturall and also that which a learned man of this age hath written touching Miracles To bee short there are an infinit number of things that are done by the secret power of Nature which if because they are secret wee should attribute to the Deuill then to vnfolde the Questions of Naturall Philosophie and Phisicke from the beginning to the end of these two Sciences we should alwaies haue recourse to Deuils But this reason is of so slender force as by the same I may conclude the quite contrary that is to say that Martha Brossier neither is nor was possessed with a Spirit Those that are possessed with a Deuill after their vehement and sudden motions do remaine astonished and haue their members as it were cracked as it appeareth in the ninth chapter of S. Marke and by the Histories reported by Master Fernelius in his second booke De abditis rerum causis Of the hidden causes of Nature Martha Brossier after her motions was not in that case but to the contrarie remained liuely and lustie Therefore Martha Brossier was not possessed with a Deuill Now then build your beliefe vpon such slender reasons as you make to conclude a matter of so great weight The fourth reason if it were true would necessarily conclude that is to say if she had spoken Greeke and English hauing neuer before learned either of those languages it would be a certaine and sure argument of her possession with a Deuill But that is altogether false For she neuer spake any other language then the French tongue and the proper speech of Romorantin although false rumours haue been spread abroad thereof to the contrarie But say they indeede she neuer spake either Greeke or English but she answered to the purpose when a question was demanded of her in Greeke One asked her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How camest thou into the bodie She answered in French For the glorie of God Now the very selfe same question in Gr●eke had bin made vnto her before at Clery as Master Lieutenant Criminal hath seene in his informations It is manifest therefore that there was a collusion in it Besides that she answered not to the purpose for she was asked the means how he had entred into the bodie the answer was made of the end that is to say wherfore it entred into y e bodie Father Benet questioned with her a long time in English and the good old Father asked her What was his name and the womā answered I was not at your Christning O goodly Miracle Martha had heard the Bishop that furnished the good Father with Interrogatories as euen the Phisitians themselues which though the woman was possessed haue written in their Reporte and the Bishop willing him to aske it in English What was his Name it was an easie matter for this cunning wench being very craftie and well instructed in such subtilties to answere I was not at your Christning But if in this woman there had been a Diuell in deede how commeth it to passe that hauing been so long a time conuersant in the Westerne Church where Latin is so common it had not in all that time learned that language Now she did confesse that shee did not vnderstand vs when wee spake Latine What was the reason then that she did vnderstand rather the words of the Priests but onely because shee was alreadie instructed and vsed thereunto and so vnderstoode them as an Ape or a Dogge vnderstandeth his Master And for as much as whiles she was in the Chastelet shee had vsually in her hands the booke of the Deuill of Laon which shee brought with her from Romarantin and which Monsieur Lugoly caused to be taken from her I leaue it to consideration whether it were not of purpose to instruct her more and more in such Apish toyes Besides all these former reasons specified they bring vs