Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	death_n	see_v	sin_n	3,750	5	5.0282	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43666	Ravillac redivivus, being a narrative of the late tryal of Mr. James Mitchel, a conventicle-preacher, who was executed the 18th of January last, for an attempt which he made on the sacred person of the Archbishop of St. Andrews to which is annexed, an account of the tryal of that most wicked pharisee Major Thomas Weir, who was executed for adultery, incest and bestiality : in which are many observable passages, especially relating to the present affairs of church and state / in a letter from a Scottish to an English gentleman.	Mitchel, James, d. 1678, defendant.; Hickes, George, 1642-1715.; Weir, Thomas, 1600?-1670, defendant.	1678 (1678)	Wing H1860; ESTC R10945	57,651	80

true this Hypothesis will never be able to solve those Diabolical Phaenomena in the Air. Some again think that the words and expressions of his Prayer were represented by the Devil upon the Stage of his Fancy after the same manner as when a man dreams he reads such a Letter or Book But he never was affected with any Consternations Tremblings or Abreptions of mind which both in true and false Prophets were the constant effects of such strong and violent impressions as were required to exhibit such unwonted representations upon the Imagination nor after his long Prayers were ended were his natural strength or Spirits exhausted as if his Devotion had been Visionary they must have been Others therefore considering him as an Apostate from God and as a Vassal and Apostle of the Devil think it very agreeable to Divinity to assert that he was immediately but yet without much violence inspired by the Devil and helped by him both in the Conception and utterance of his Prayers This they conceive the Evil Spirit might do like an assistant form by impregnating his Fancy with Enthusiastical conceptions and thereby rendring his Imagination very turgent and ready to swell above its banks which being done by the immediate Operation of the Evil Spirit the wretched 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 could not fail to burst forth in flumine Orationis or a full Torrent of Prayer and likewise be affected with such moderate Raptures as yet left him in a condition to understand what he said Furthermore to prevent all possible objections they say That if God suffered the Devil to counterfeit Prophetical Visions or the true Spirit of Prophecy under the Law then they know no reason why it should be thought inconsistent with his goodness or disagreable to his infinite wisdom to permit him under the Gospel to counterfeit Inspiration or the true Spirit of Prayer But for my own part had not the Monster himself ascribed his fluency in Devotion to the assistance of the Devil I should have wholly ascribed it to the vigour of his own Enthusiastical Imagination without any Foreign Force For not only his fluency in Prayer but the moderate Raptures and little extatic fits into which he was Transported are explicable by the natural power of unassisted Imagination as I could make it out by many examples and where a natural cause alone is sufficient to account for any effect I am always sparing to joyn with it a supernatural Cause All the while he was in Prison he lay under violent apprehension of the heavy Wrath of God which put him into that which is properly called Despair a Despair which made him hate God and desist from Duty to him and with which the Damned Souls in Hell are reasonably supposed to be constantly affected In this sence he was desperate and therefore would admit neither Church nor Conventicle-ministers to pray for him or discourse with him about the infinite mercy of God and the possibility of the forgiveness of his Sins Much less could he endure to be exhorted to repent or be brought to entertain any thoughts of Repentance telling all the World that he had sinned himself beyond all possibility of Repentance and Pardon that he was already damn'd that he was sure his Condemnation to Eternal burnings was already pronounced in Heaven and that the united Prayers of all the Saints in Heaven and Earth would be vain and insignificant if they were offered to God in his behalf So that when some charitable Ministers of the City by name the present Bishop of Galloway and present Dean of Edinburgh were resolved to Pray before him for his Repentance and Pardon against his consent he was with much difficulty withheld from interrupting of them in their devotions and the posture he put himself in when they began to pray was to lye upon his Bed in a most stupid manner with his Mouth wide open and when Prayers were ended being ask'd if he had heard them and attended to them he told them They were very troublesome and cruel to him and that he neither heard their devotion nor cared for it nor could be the better for all the Prayers that Men or Angels could offer up to Heaven upon his account It was his Interest to believe there was no God and therefore to ease the torments of his mind he attempted now and then to comfort and flatter up himself into this absurd belief For he was sometimes observ'd to speak very doubtfully about his existence in particular to say that if it were not for the terrors which he found tormenting him within he should scarce believe there was a God Being with great tenderness and compassion besought by one of the City-Ministers that he would not so resolvedly destroy himself by despairing of God's Mercy which upon Repentance had been granted to Murtherers Adulterers Sodomists Bestialists nay to those that had denyed Christ he replyed in anger Trouble me no more with your beseeching of me to Repent for I know my sentence of damnation is already seal'd in Heaven and I feel my self so hardned within that if I might obtain Pardon of God and all the Glories of Heaven for a single wish that I had not committed the sins with the sence whereof I am so tormented yet I could not prevail with my self to make that single wish And were your Soul in my Soul's stead you would find your exhortations impertinent and troublesome for I find nothing within me but blackness and darkness Brimstone and burning to the bottom of Hell I have been told by very credible Persons that the Body of this unclean Beast gave manifest tokens of its impurity as soon as it began to be heated by the Flames and certain it is that after it was burnt a report was presently sent from hence to the Brethren in the West that the Malefactor who was burnt for such execrable crimes was not Major Weir but another Person who exactly resembled him and whom the wicked Prelates and Curates had bribed to personate the Godly Major who was said to be gone with a contribution to the exiled Brethren in Holland and call himself by his name This report was believed in the West for several Months till time discover'd that the Major was no more As for Jane this incarnate Devils Sister she was very insensible of her great sins and was so far from remorse of conscience for them and despairing of the mercy of God as she did that she presum'd too much upon it placing a great deal of confidence in her constant adherence to the Covenant which she call'd in her Brother Mitchel's style the Cause and Interest of Christ She confessed indeed as he did that her sins deserv'd a worse death than she was condemn'd to dye but she never shewed her self in the least concern'd for what might ensue after death When she was upon the Ladder she bespoke the people in the following words I see a great croud of People come hither to day to

his Grave In the interval betwixt his condemnation and execution he seldom spoke of his approaching Death but as of a Martyrdom or Murther and glory'd that he was accounted worthy to suffer for Christ This is the stile of his short Speech and the frequent Visits Papers and Messages that he received from the Brotherhood to dye with Courage in the Cause and to seal the Truth that is the Covenant with his Blood together with the frequent debauches which he made with Ale Wine and Brandy contributed very much to heighten his obstination and make him insensible of his crime You cannot imagine how much the Fanaticks of all parts were concern'd about him From the West a private message was sent to the Archbishop to assure his Grace that if Mr. James Mitchel were hang'd another should not fail to execute his design His Majesty's Advocate who pursu'd him receiv'd a threatning anonymous Letter and the common talk of this Town was that Mr. James Mitchel's Blood should be reveng'd upon the whole Order and truly I doubt not but if all the Fathers of our Church and all the Clergy under them had but one Neck that there are at least 300. Covenanted Mitchels behind that would strive to cut it off In the Year 1668. when he made the attempt the Fanatical Party made a sport of it and as if the ruine of the Church were sure to follow upon it many fair pretenders that out of complyance to Authority had hitherto given our Bishops that particular veneration that was due to their Character began now to slight them and would scarce give them that common respect which was due to other Men. The like change was observ'd upon the late insolencies of the Whigs in the West the respect of our Bishops and Episcopal Clergy began visibly to decay and some that were then in a condition to do the Faction a kindness had the confidence to say that they knew no reason there was to oppose the inclinations of the people to support about a dozen Men. And while this Martyr of Iniquity lay in Goal the mouths of our Fanaticks were full of railing against the Bishops and the Rascality who are often taught to speak the sence of greater Persons were heard to say that it were better the Primate should be hang'd than he In the Octave betwixt his sentence and execution he receiv'd as I was credibly inform'd 400. Dollars in private gifts which was interpreted by the Party for the particular care that God had of him who never sees the Righteous forsaken nor his Seed begging their bread The day before his Execution he sent to the Provost or Mayor of Edinburgh to desire a Stage larger than ordinary because he had a great number of Friends that intended to appear at his Execution in Mourning but his Lordship was more honest and prudent than to grant the vain-glorious Villain his desire When he was upon the Ladder he called the Psalm to be sung which if you do not remember I desire you before you proceed to consult When the Psalm was ended he took out of his Psalm Book two Copies of his intended Speech which he threw among the people for there had he put them to elude the search After his Body was cut down it was conveighed to Magdalen Chappel from whence it was carried to Burial in great Pomp being attended with at least 40. Mourners whereof the Justice General 's Gentleman was one T is reported also that the Herse-cloth was of Velvet but certain it is it was more than ordinary brave The Evening before his Execution Information was brought to the Provost that the Women of Edinburgh I mean the Fanatical part of them had enter'd into a conspiracy to rescue him between the Prison and the Gallows which obliged his Lordship to provide extraordinary Guards capable to prevent any such design This Information was well grounded if it were not true for there was never seen such an appearance of that Sex at any Execution as was at his where a Body of at least seven hundred Sisters stood together almost in Rank and Eile The next Morning after his Execution there were several Copies of his Speech and several Libellous Verses put up in several places of the City one Copy whereof made by some Fanatick Poetaster and fixed upon the great Cross I here send you with an Answer in another Column which was made about two or three days after by a better Poet and better principled Man Deploratio Mortis Jacobi Mitchel HEu quo jura ruunt siccine candida Virtus Et Recti dicessit amor tibi Scotia multas Perfida Gens parat insidias rituque Profano Polluit Impietas sacraria membra piorum Ah truncata jacent qui sacri faedera pacti Non ausi violare fidei rectique tenaces Perstiterant quo tantaruunt perjuria Quassam Funditus an tentant Solymam convellere magni Gens secura Dei speciosaque Templa Sionis Diruere obductis involvens cuncta tenebris Quo ruit Impietas vanas sic ibit in auras Pacta fides Perjura manus coit omnis in unum In scelus horrendum saevos feritate Leones Mittit in Occasum suscepta ut faedera Regni Deleat Christi praedetur ovile cupido Namque tenet lucri nunquam satiata nefandum Prob Scelus an Pharias miseri remeamus ad oras Anne iterum nostrae sic Relligionis habenas Papa Reget nunquam ne aderit Deus ultor inulti Dum pereunt justi dextrâque ultrice furorem Comprimet hunc rabiosa lupi non terruit ira Fraudibus occultis odiisque immanibus annos Quatuor afflictum non caeco carcere clausum Uincula terrebant vinclis cruciatus in arctis Perstitit exiliique tulit mala cuncta reductus Jeis rigidum perpessus obit quis caetera nescit Epitaphium ejusdem ubi ipse introducitur loquens Quo vesana ruit gens vis effera praeceps Quo ruit impietas sine lege furor Rebus an intrepidis constantia victa fatiscit An metuit vanas mens labefacta minas In te fixa Deus mea spes te intentus anhelo Intrepidus carpam te duce mortis iter Saevus at iste lupus quia mens intelligit inde Se sciat in magnum tela movere Deum Finis Quo autem modo hactenus mortuo cui soli Epitaphium ex vi vocis debetur carpendum sit mortis iter confaederatis fratribus problema esto Congratulatio de morte Jacobi Mitchel Parricidae IN te jura cadunt quia à te candida Virtus Et Recti dicessit amor tibi Scotia paenas Perfida Grex meritas parat ah quae more profano Faedasti Christi sacraria membra piorum Tu trunctata dabas tu sacri faedera pacti Ausu novo violare fidei rectique tena●s Exilio mulctans tua sic perjuria quassam Tent abant Solymam convellere funditus alti Grex secura Dei Speciosaque Templa Sionis Diruis obductis