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	matter_n	soul_n	1,472	5	5.2309	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35980	Observations on the 22. stanza in the 9th. canto of the 2d. book of Spencers Faery Queen Full of excellent notions concerning the frame of man, and his rationall soul. Written by the right noble and illustrious knight Sir Kenelme Digby, at the request of a friend.	Digby, Kenelm, Sir, 1603-1665.	1643 (1643)	Wing D1439; ESTC R213242	7,965	35

building which falls to ruine if the foundation and Base of it be unsound or disordered And in some of these the vitall spirits are contained and preserved which the other keep in convenient temper and as long as they do so the soul and bodie dwell together like good friends so that these foure are the Base of the conjunction of the other two both which he saith are Proportion'd equally by seven and nine In which words I understand he meanes the influences of the superior substances which governe the inferiour into the two differing parts of Man to wit of the Starres the most powerfull of which are the seven Planets into his body and of the Angels divided into nine Hierarchies or Orders into his soul which in his Astrophel he saith is By soveraigne choice from th`heavenly Quires select And lineally deriv`d from Angels race And as much as the one governe the Body so much the other do the Minde Wherein is to be considered that some are of opinion how at the instant of a childs conception or rather more effectually at the instant of his Birth the conceived sperme or tender Body doth receive such influence of the Heavens as then raigne over that place where the conception or birth is made And all the Starres or virtuall places of the celestiall Orbes participating the qualities of the seven Planets according to which they are distributed into so many Classes or the compounds of them it comes to passe that according to the varietie of the severall Aspects of the one and of the other there are various inclinations and qualities in mens bodies but all reduced to seven generall heads and the compounds of them which being to be varied innumerable wayes cause as many different effects yet the influence of some one Planet continually predominating But when the matter in a womans wombe is capable of a soul to inform it then God sendeth one from Heaven into it Eternall God In Paradise whilome did plant this Flower Whence he it fetcht out of her native place And did in Stock of earthly flesh inrace And this opinion the Author more plainly expresses himself to be of in another work where he saith There she beholds with high aspiring thought The cradle of her own Creation Emongst the seats of Angels heavenly wrought Which whether it have been created ever since the beginning of the world and reserv'd in some fit place till due time or be created on emergent occasion no man can tell but certain it is that it is immortall according to what I said before when I spake of the Circle which hath no ending and an uncertain beginning The messengers to conveigh which soul into the bodie are the Intelligences which move the Orbes of Heaven who according to their severall natures communicate to it severall proprieties and they most who are Governours of those Starres at that instant who have the superioritie in the planetary aspects Whereby it comes to passe that in all inclinations there 's much affinitie betweene the Soul and the Body being that the like is betweene the Intelligences and the Starres both which communicate their vertues to each of them And these Angels being as I said before of nine severall Hierarchies there are so many principle differences in humane souls which participate most of their proprieties which whom in their descent they made the longest stay and that had most active power to work on them and accompanied them with a peculiar Genius which is according to their severall Governments like the same kind of water that running through various conduits wherein severall aromatike and odoriferous things are laid do acquire severall kinds of tastes and smels For it is supposed that in their first Creation all Souls are alike and that their differing proprieties arive to them afterwards when they passe through the spheres of the governing Intelligences So that by such their influence it may truly be said that Nine was the Circle set in Heavens place Which verse by assigning this office to the nine and the proper place to the Circle gives much light to what is said before And for a further confirmation that this is the Authors opinion read attentively the sixt Canto of the 3. Book where most learnedly and at large he delivers the Tenets of this Philosophie and for that I commend to you to take particular notice of the 2d and thirty two Stanzaes as also the last of his Epithalamion and survaying his works you shall finde him a constant disciple of Platoes School All which compacted made a goodly Diapase In Nature there is not to be found a more compleat and more exact Concordance of all parts then that which is betweene the compaction and conjunction of the Body and Soul of Man Both which although they consist of many and most different faculties and parts yet when they keepe due time with one another they altogether make the most perfect Harmony that can be imagined And as the nature of sounds that consist of friendly consonancies and accords is to mingle themselves with one another and to slide into the eare with much sweetnesse where by their unity they last a long time and delight it where as contrarily discords continually jarre and fight together and will not mingle with one another but all of them striving to have the victory their reluctation and disorder gives a speedie end to their sounds which strike the Eare in a harsh and offensive manner and there die in the very beginning of their Conflict In like manner when a mans Actions are regular and directed towards God they become like the lines of a Circle which all meet in the Center then his musick is most excellent and compleat and all together are the Authors of that blessed harmony which maketh him happie in the glorious vision of Gods perfections wherein the minde is filled with high knowledges and most pleasing contemplations and the senses as it were drowned in eternall delight and nothing can interrupt this Joy this Happinesse which is an everlasting Diapase Whereas on the contrary if a mans actions be disorderly and consisting of discords which is when the sensitive part rebels and wrastles with the Rationall striving to oppresse it then this musick is spoiled and instead of eternall life pleasure and joy it causeth perpetuall death horrour paine and misery Which infortunate estate the Poet describes elsewhere as in the conclusion of this Staffe he intimates the other happy one which is the never-failing Reward of such an obedient bodie and ethereall and vertuous minde as he makes to be the feat of the bright Virgin Alma mans worthiest inhabitant Reason Her I feele to speake within me and chide me for my bold Attempt warning me to stray no further For what I have said considering how weakly it is said your Command is all the excuse that I can pretend But since my desire to obey that may bee seene as well in a few lines as in a large Discourse it were indiscretion in me to trouble you with more or to discover to you more of my Ignorance I will onely begge pardon of you for this blotted and interlined paper whose Contents are so meane that it cannot deserve the paines of a Transcription which if you make difficulty to grant to it for my sake let it obtain it for having been yours And now I return to you also the Book that contains my Text which yesterday you sent me to fit this part of it with a Comment which peradventure I might have performed better if either I had afforded my selfe more time or had had the conveniencie of some other books apt to quicken my Invention to whom I might have been beholding for enlarging my understanding in some things that are treated here although the Application should still have been my own With these helps perhaps I might have dived further into the Authors Intention the depth of which cannot be sounded by any that is lesse learned then he was But I perswade my self very strongly that in what I have said there 's nothing contradictory to it and that an intelligent and well learned man proceeding on my grounds might compose a worthie and true Commentarie on this Theme Upon which I wonder how I stambled considering how many learned men have failed in the Interpretation of it and have all at the first hearing approved my opinion But it was Fortune that made me fall upon it when first this Stanza was read to me for an indissoluble Riddle And the same Discourse I made upon it the first halfe quarter of an houre that I saw it I send you here without having reduced it to any better form or added any thing at all unto it Which I beseech you receive benignely as coming from Your most affectionate Friend and humble Servant Kenelm Digby FINIS