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	natural_a	nature_n	2,983	5	5.5283	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28908	Pandaemonium, or, The devil's cloyster being a further blow to modern sadduceism, proving the existence of witches and spirits, in a discourse deduced from the fall of the angels, the propagation of Satans kingdom before the flood, the idolatry of the ages after greatly advancing diabolical confederacies, with an account of the lives and transactions of several notorious witches : also, a collection of several authentick relations of strange apparitions of dæmons and spectres, and fascinations of witches, never before printed / by Richard Bovet ...	Bovet, Richard, b. ca. 1641.	1684 (1684)	Wing B3864; ESTC R15851	101,986	250

Sphere and it will not be found at all available against the Possibility of such performances no more than a Mans doubting how it is possible that the Sea doth Ebb and Flow should be an Argument that there were no such thing in Nature We cannot conceive how from such small and various Seeds such different species of Plants and Trees receive their Formation or how the Extream distant Natures and Compositions of Soul and Body are United but Yet notwithstanding our Ignorance these things are very Obvious to our sense tho beyond the Comprehension of our Reasons and therefore it is no wonder if we are strangers to the Constitutions and Powers of Creatures that do not appear to us Therefore the best Judgment we can make of such extraordinary things is by the Evidence and not the Measure of our Fancies For by this we are certainly convinced that such things are really so tho by reason of our confined Circumstances we are not able to penetrate into the Rationality of their Contingencies CHAP. V. Propositions or Assertions concerning Witches and Witchcraft The Character of a Witch Same Considerations of the Original of their power THE last Chapter having designed that Idol Worship as the Devil is therein proposed Objectively to be Adored Is not only a great Countenancer but Tends vastly to the promotion of Diabolical Confederacies Before we proceed to a particular and Historical Account of Ancient and Modern Witches it may be necessary a little farther to explain what we mean by a Witch and how far the power of such a one may be understood And this being a nice and difficult determination The Candid Reader shall find very little new Asserted Notions either in Relation to their persons or practices but we shall chuse to lay down what the most Unprejudiced Learned and Sober Writers of things relating to Matters of this Nature have upon their best search and Enquiry determined And first it is agreed that it is very difficult to prove such or such a one to be a Witch and it ought to be done with the greatest Caution and Tenderness Imaginable The loss being greater on the part of a false Testimony than on that of a Supposed Criminal Infernal Contracts are not supposed to be made in the presence of Witnesses being as hath been said against the Law of God and Man So that the Devil out of a seeming regard to the safety and Immunity of his Prostitute may omit the Ceremony of Testes the black pupil acting with greater security when she apprehends none knows of or is privy to the Confederation Yet is there no doubt but the Devil is as secure of his prey as if the whole world had subscribed a Teste to the Indenture for by the consent of the party he hath Seisin of her as his Property which he will be sure never to part with unless Ejected by a stronger than He. Those Hellish Compacts therefore are Managed like the filthy Intrigues betwixt a Fornicator and his Strumpet where it may be no Eye sees them that may Expose them to the penalties of Humane Laws and it is difficult to prove matter of fact between them but at last a Spurious off-spring or a more Nauseous Rotteness unveils them to the world and they linger out to a more Infamous Death than if the Law had Chastised them The Rotteness of their bones giving them more severe pains and Twinges than the Rod of Justice could have done Not unlike this do some of these Infernal Prostitutes Escape the hand of the publick Justice until at last their loath'd and miserable Lives are seized as forfeitures to the Devil and they are found like Faustus with broken Necks or with some other wrack upon their Nauseous Bodies that Evidently discovers their souls to have been Extorted from them and that they have been forcibly Ejected upon forfeiture of their Lease Some too may have been unjustly accused for Witches either by an Ignorance of Causes meerly Natural or misapplying Causes that in themselves are supernatural So that the very same operations which to Intelligent and Enquiring Philosophers are meerly the product of Natural Sympathies or Antipathies of Heat or Cold or the like to the unskilful shall appear as done by Art Magical or Diabolical So the Freezing a cup of snow-water to a Stool by the fireside looks to some weak persons with an Aspect very strange and unaccountable whilst to those that consider and know the restringent Quality of the Salt the others Admiration becomes almost Ridiculous It is acknowledged by all Naturalists that the power of Imagination hath had and may have strange Effects especially upon tender and Irrational Bodies such as Children Chickens Lambs c. according to that of Virgil Nescio quis Teneros Oculus mihi fascinat Agnos And very strange performances may be effected by an Exalted and Fixed Imagination the Intention of which vastly contributes towards the Effecting things seemingly Impossible The formation of the Child in the Mothers Womb which if good Authority may be Credited hath been Imputed to the force of an Imagination strongly possessed with such or such a belief And to this purpose it is very remarkable what is by a learned pen related of a Lady who being used to wear patches and that during the time she was with child a Gentleman told her that her child would have such a patch in its forehead and accordingly at the birth of the Child such a spot was discerned in the place described and still remained in that same part of the Ladies Face as a Testimony of the Impression a powerful Imagination may have on tender Bodies Infinite more are the Experiments that might be mentioned of this kind but if I should Enumerate never so many it would nevertheless appear that the Feats and performances of Infernal Confederacies vastly surpass whatsoever can be thought attainable in this kind and this will be so Evident by matters of Fact related in the following Collection that it would be needless to speak any thing more to it in this place Besides if it be supposed that some have been suspected for Witches barely for having deformed Bodies Ill Aspects or Melancholy Constitutions doth it any ways appear from hence that there is really no such thing as a Witch Or may it not with as much reason be alledged that because some for having Arms found about them have been wrongfully accused for being Robbers that therefore there is no such thing as a High-way man Such allegations as these do not at all disprove the Existence of such Haggs Tho I must confess that there is no reason that any person by reason of those deformities which may be only the Effects of old Age or the product of some disease should be presently Indicted and trust up for a Witch nor can I Imagine that ever such a thing hath been in a Civilized Nation without the concomitant circumstances of some other proofs That would be a hard case indeed

you if you will remember and imitate those whose life and carriage was much in your eye And let me tell you in the Copy our late faithful Brother set you there are remarkable for your imitation A prudent care to manage soul-concerns a constant unwearied diligence in Labours for their good an undaunted resolution for known duty to God and Man a tender and meek spirit gently dealing with the weak yet willing enquirers after God A ready and full-willing mind to minister on every occasion to the edifying of those he conversed with An even and steddy practice of what he commended as excellent or urged as necessary duty an acquaintedness with the importance of duty and reward A serious mindfulness of Death and Judgment on which he discoursed frequently and lively dying to the World but living to God and still valuing most what was so good God would not and men could not take from him which appear'd in his deportment and frame of spirit when loss of dying Children and uncertain riches raised his esteem and value of the Gospel and his and your hopes set before us in the Gospel a heart full of love and thoughtfulness for your good whence those last desires and requests in order to the promoting of your good which I am informed he left you to consider Prize a Guide that will be faithful to your souls keep the unity of the spirit into which you are called by the Gospel and seek God earnestly for both Now could we prevail with you who heard and with others who read this discourse to endeavour for such a frame of spirit and to act according to it I know there would be more faithfulness diligence and mutual hope among the Servants of the Lord and his Family would be more beautiful in sight of others and more comforted and edified in their own souls Read then and read again and be in your houses which should be little Families or Churches of God in directing and helping them to Heaven what he desired and labour'd to be amongst you all I do think he gave you the Copy of Faithfulness and Diligence or I would not have thus set it before you and I commend it to you as becomes both me and it viz. It is the Copy of one who whilst he was good was still a man but though I could wish you would excel him I will not flatter you with a hope you will do it Oh that you would equal him of whom allow me to say He could do as much as most of best Men Scholars Christians Husbands Fathers Brethren Ministers and his will was ever equal to his ability the Service of his Lord was his life though he lived not on it he would not he could not live without it by a gracious Master sitted for succeeded in carried through much work in a little time and I believe now rewarded with a Crown of Life and Righteousness which he knew he did not merit though he knew it should be his wages In brief he was such an one as friends who knew him desire they may be and now is such as they hope they shall be such an one as some enemies already as I am inform'd have wisht they might be and others will once at last wish they had been He had a worth known to himself and others but it did not puff him up Should I say all I could strangers would think I exceed Friends would know a better Orator might justifiably have spoken more Yet once for all If either Readers or Hearers carp at the Character I have given him I have two things to say First it will be easier to quarrel at the praises than to deserve them Next I would defraud none of the Commendation due to them nor do I prefer him above all there are some but too few superior in gifts and graces I hope there are many his equals I am sure the most are lower by head and shoulders who likeliest to misinterpret me shall have a good wish for them or rather a serious Prayer testimony of a hearty love to their persons and unfeigned desire of their own good comfort and welfare and of all these to theirs and the Church of God in this and after ages for them I say I will pray more days fewer troubles and that they may be in other things altogether such as he was FINIS only on particular Men Women and Children but even on whole Towns and Countries many of which have been miserably Afflicted and some even totally destroyed by Tempests Fires Pestilences and other strange Accidents whereof no cause in Nature could appear And this hath been Attested not by one or two private or Ignorant Men but Transmitted from one Generation to another as the Opinion of the most Authentick Historians Physicians and Divines grounded on the best and strictest Enquiries of such who have taken Indefatigable pains to sift and search out the truth of what they have Related Nor have we alone the Authority of such but the consent of whole Courts of Judicature and the most Learned Assemblies of States-Men and Divines who in all Ages by their Publick Solemn Sanctions have declared their belief Detestation of such Cursed Practices Besides the undeniable Testimony of the sacred Scriptures before mentioned to whose Unerring Suffrage we ought to submit our belief and not by our fidelity Contradict the Authority of the Almighty and take upon us to be the Patrons and Champions of those Hellish Practises we seem to disbelieve By Charmers in a strict sense may be understood such as by some spell or form of Words employ their Familiar Spirits to bring at their call such Creatures as they shall demand rendering Venomous Creatures disarmed of their Noxious Quality during their pleasure and the most Ferose and Wild Brutes to become Tractable and Couchant Such were they who could suscitate or call together great numbers of Snakes or Serpents and cause them to go of their own accord into the Fire which was inclosed within a Magical Circle of which Dr. Casaubon of Credulity and Incredulity gives an account at large page 103. some have Charmed Flyes and Grashoppers when the Fields have been Infested with them and the fruits of the Earth in danger And of this sort of Operators the Psalmist seems to speak Ps 58. v. 4. Which will not hearken to the voice of the Charmer Charming never so wisely So Ecclesiastes ch 10.11 v. surely the Serpent will bite without Enchantment and the 8. of the Prophet Jerem. 17. v. I will send Serpents Cockatrices amongst you which will not be Charmed and they shall bite you c. Southsayers were such as by Inspection into the Entrails of Beasts or the flying of Birds were wont to prognosticate of Weather what Tempests or other seasons were like to ensue they gave their Opinions too with relation to other Contingencies as Events of Battle the fatality of Seasons or Attempts This they foretold by some certain Omens