Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	church_n	faith_n	good_a	1,446	5	3.4167	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58995	The second part of the boy of Bilson, or, A true and particular relation of the imposter Susanna Fowles wife of John Fowles, of Hammersmith, in the county of Middlesex, who pretended her self to be posses'd with the Devil : giving an exact account of the beginning, progress, conferences, discovery, commitment, confession, &c. of the said imposter / the whole being writ and attested by Robert Howson, clerk, Captain John Ponsey, and Mr. Nicholas Wade, who were frequently with her during the time of her pretended possession, and before whom she made the confession herein contained, as also by a great number of clergy, both conformists and nonconformists mentioned in the following narrative.	Howson, Robert.; Ponsey, John.; Wade, Nicholas.	1698 (1698)	Wing S2300; ESTC R33732	11,682	29

he was asked how he made his Throat swell and he shewed it was by thrusting his Tongue being very long down his Throat which trick he found out himself the rest were taught him by the Priests Thus did the Bishop preserve an innocent old Woman condemned by the Law to die discover the abominable Forgeries of the Priests and convert a wicked Boy whom afterwards he bound Apprentice and proved a good Man I shall make no Remarks upon the foregoing Story but leave the Reader himself to compare it with the following Imposture which was thus THE HISTORY OF OUR Present Impostor OF all the prodigious Products either of the Inanimate Animate or Rational World that this monstrous Age hath produced the ensuing Instance may justly challenge the precedency Wherein the Prince of the Air hath imposed not only upon a great Number of Learned and Charitable Christians both Ministers and others of all Persuasions but upon himself too pretending to be where he was not and to do what he did not in that sense that was pretended that he might rivet himself the faster in his moral Possession and expose the heavenly Religion of the Holy Jesus to the Ridicule and Contempt of a blasphemous and prophane Age. But in all such Cases I humbly conceive 't is most safe to fall forward in being charitably mistaken till Observation Pains and Prayers with the Blessing of Heaven upon all shall undeceive the mistaken as it hath done blessed be God's Name in the ensuing Case of Susannah Fowles Wife of John Fowles of Hammersmith in the County of Middlesex Labourer who about the Age of Twenty years was in or about August 97 married to the said John Fowles who finding her Fortune to be less than she did pretend to and he did depend upon it caused such Discontent between them as threw her into such unreasonable and extravagant Passions that she did frequently Imprecate the Devil to fetch her from him and his Family Upon which the Devil soon found such Instruments as did not only foment but heighten the matter to that degree that she was perswaded she was possess'd with the Devil Which indeed was true though not in that yet in a far worse sense The Person she tells you in her Confession that did first perswade her to feign her self to be possessed was a Relation of hers that did live in Bloomsbury and as she believes a Roman Catholick So that now the World may expect the Second Part of the Boy of Bilson detected by that Learned and Pious Prelate Dr. Morton then Lord Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield and not without some probable Reasons for the same For in some short time after a very officious Gentleman who is call'd by the Name of Dr. Jourdan of Brentford made her a friendly Visit giving her a Spell to hang about her Neck which he told her would certainly keep out the Devil which was afterward examin'd and found to be an Exorcism with several Crosses and these words Alpha and Omega Immanuel and Jehovah above and below and on each side it being drawn in the manner of a Scheme Who likewise strictly charged her to cross her self upon the Forehead and Breast not doubting but thereby to effect the Cure And since that a Doctor of Divinity of this Church and in this City hath declared that the Papists did report that the Work would never be done till their Priests came And sometime after a very ingenious young Gentlewoman came to my Lodgings and told me That if We of the Church of England did not and the Popish Priests did cast the Devil out of this Woman she did believe that she should be a Proselyte to their Church To whom I answer'd That before she left so good a Church grounded upon so good a Faith by making our Ministers a foil to their Priests I did hope she would first be satisfied whether it was not an Imposture And moreover How far one evil Spirit may cast out another to carry on the common Cause of the dark and damned World would be very well worth her enquiry or to that purpose And it was observed by a very honest Gentleman that stood by that one day when she was in Rotten-Row in Old-street a Gentlewoman gave her a Wafer in a small piece of Cake bidding her to eat that in the Name of Jesus that was crucified upon the Cross To which if you add the Story of the Portugueses with their hairy Jackets and bare Feet mention'd in her Confession we may without breach of Charity conclude That if these Gentlemen were not the Contrivers they would if they could have been the Conjurers And now follows the Imposture it self which was managed as follows First by a pretended Apparition which she saith she frequently had and at last was so familiar with her that she call'd him her Friend Mr. Thomas describing him by his ghastly Face and by all the Parts of an humane Body saying to use her own Words That his Fingers did hang like the Fingers of a Bartholomew-Baby This Mr. Thomas at several times brought several Papers to which he did perswade her to subscribe her Name Monday the 17th of January as her Husband says she had a Paper brought with these words so legibly writ that he could read them I am thy servant Which she refusing to subscribe Mr. Thomas made his Exit for that time x v m s By the Advice of the worthy and ingenious Gentleman Captain Bonsey my own and others in order either to have her discovered or recovered she was brought to London about the 17th of February and lodged in an Apartment taken for her in Rotten-Row in Oldstreet having for her Attendance her Husband and his Sister Friday the 18th I made my first Visit to her in Old-street where I found several both Men and Women some admiring others pitying and all seemingly praying for her to whom after some short time I address'd my self as I and other Ministers had often done in the Name of the Blessed Jesus At which she pretended to be thrown into such Convulsions and Agonies both of Body and Mind as did obtain upon the belief of the Beholders that she was really possess'd or under some strange diabolical Influence out of which after she had continued in it about a quarter of an hour without any seeming sense either of Body or Mind she return'd with that composedness and sedateness of Mind as if she had been rather with God than the Devil Monday the 21st of February after having desired the Learned and Reverend Lecturer of the Parish to accompany me I went the second time when I found her in the same condition as before with one Mr. Powel and Mr. Burnet Dissenting Ministers who had bestowed some time and pains in Prayer with her and for her for which she seem'd to be very thankful When to strengthen the Imposture she did pretend to discover what had been privately discours'd by some in the Room in reference