Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	soul_n	spirit_n	17,497	5	5.6554	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26259	Averroeana being a transcript of several letters from Averroes an Arabian philosopher at Corduba in Spain, to Metrodorus a young Grecian nobleman, student at Athens in the years 1149 and 1150 : also several letters from Pythagoras to the King of India, together with his reception at the Indian court, and an account of his discourse with the King, and his gymnosophists, and his rules and precepts : his account of the power and efficacy of numbers, and magical uses thereof : to which is prefixt, a Latin letter by Monsieur Grinau, one of the Messieurs du Port Royal in France, to the ingenius Monsieur Gramont, merchant at Amsterdam, concerning the subject of these papers, and how they came to his hands : the whole containing matters highly philosophical, physiological, Pythagorical and medicinal, the work having been long conceal'd is now put into English for the benefit of mankind, and the rectification of learned mistakes.; Correspondence. English. Selections	Averroës, 1126-1198.; Pythagoras. Correspondence. English. Selections.	1695 (1695)	Wing A4271; ESTC R1981	54,271	185

thing I find to be matter of Complaint against us is our practice of Singing contrary to common Usage and Custom nor do I know any grounds for Admiration except that the Consent and Joyfulness of our Sufferings may create Wonder in our Persecutors We are perswaded that the Soul of Man when rightly tuned that is not misguided by Passion nor swayed by Interest is a perfect Composition of Harmony Musick is endued with wonderful Excellencies and equal Parts not only of the Celestials but also of the Terrestrials For numerous Sounds digested into pleasant Songs do wonderfully quicken the inward Faculties and by a soft and natural Inclination and Sympathetick Attraction allure and unite all the Vertues and good Powers and its influence is so great when it proceeds from a well-tuned and composed Mind that it does not only change the Affections Intentions Gestures Motions Actions and Dispositions but it imposeth its own Harmonious Properties both on the Singers and the Hearers It pacifies the disorder of the Spirits not only of Men but even affects Birds and Beasts Wild Indian Elephants are tamed by Melodious Voices yea the Elements themselves submit to their power Do not labouring People sing to mitigate the Toil of their Employments for Harmony chears and refreshes the Animal Spirits causing an equal Operation of all the Qualities which in all respects forrifie Nature and at the same time chase away dull sordid Thoughts and Saturnine Humours rendring the Body and Mind capable to receive Divine Impressions Musick is a sure and constant Friend to Health and many times we have known Diseases give place to its salutiferous strains by a Magical Power and Sweet Violence raising all that is good into equality by moderating the Affections and composing the Mind Harmony is the true Musick of the Spheres acquainting Mankind with the Sympathetical Concord of the Universe that Golden Chain which unites Heaven and Earth It is the true Entertainment of Man's Soul fitting and preparing the Mind to understand both Divine and Humane Mysteries likewise our Preservation and Salvation in this World and in that which is to come do consist in a Harmonious Disposition of Parts Now our Songs are both Prayers and Praises to our Creator for his Infinite Goodness and Mercy Sleep is as it were a transitory Death during the Body's natural repose having shaken off for that time the Fetters of the gross Senses And while the Spirits are upon the Wing and as it were in the Suburbs of Eternity the holy Demons or good Angels and Spirits have their secret Intercourses with our Souls by whom as we are found worthy they open and communicate the Divine Mysteries to such as have submitted themselves to the Government of the Innocent Harmonious Powers as I said before Sleep is a transitory Death in which state there is no progression or passing of time perceived by our Senses and if we pass away into Eternal Regions we esteem it a Blessing and all our Fathers say That an easie Death is a Favour from the Powers of Heaven as being nearest equality therefore we sing out our Prayers and Praises to our Creator and as much as in us lies do keep our selves sensible and mindful that we may expect to be called out of this World every moment also that our Dreams may be Equal and Harmonious for Dreams and Visions are the greatest and clearest Arguments of the Immortality of our Souls and the only way and means whereby our Creator does vouchsafe to reveal and communicate his Secrets to the Sons of Wisdom It is also to be noted that our Songs being composed of equal Parts and being impregnated by the Vertue and Power of our Minds they do by a mutual Consent and Agreement compose and unite all that is good by a Sympathetical Inclination which renders us capable of the holy Unity These are the Reasons O King that mov'd us to Recommend Musick and Singing to our Disciples the good and innocent Effect whereof we have oftentimes and abundantly experienc'd An Account of a Personal Discourse between Pythagoras the Indian King and his Gymnosophists asserting the Truth of his Doctrine as 〈◊〉 as found in an Ancient Latin Manuscript attested by Averroes own Hand AS soon as the King of India heard that Pythagoras was come to Court he ordered his high Chamberlain to provide convenient Lodgings for him and his Companions and assigned him a Day when he would give him Audience of what he had further to alledge in defence of those Doctrines he had Preached in his Kingdoms particularly touching that Precept of his forbidding to eat Flesh or use any other manner of Violence towards these innocent and harmless Creatures The appointed Day being come and the King seated on his Royal Throne with many of his Courtiers and Gymnosophists about him Pythagoras was order'd to approach and the King received him after this manner Pythagoras we are assured as well by thy Letters to us as also by the reports of divers Persons that thou art a very Learned Man we have therefore thought fit to send for thee to our Court that we might have some Personal Discourse with thee We declare unto thee that we do not approve of taking up things upon Trust and are utterly unwilling to encourage a Practice meerly because it has been customary But to us it seems strange that thou shouldst teach our People absolutely to abstain from eating of Flesh and to forbear that Noble and Ancient Pastime of Hunting the first Exercise of Young Heroes and that which fits them for the attempting all Warlike and Glorious Actions contributing as well to the Improvement of the Mind as to the Strength and Agility of the Body calling it a Cruel and Inhumane Recreation altogether unbecoming the Dignity of Humane Nature Let us then freely hear thy Reasons convince us if thou canst Pythagoras and we our selves shall readily become thy Disciple After which Pythagoras thus began his Discourse May it please your Majesty we have in our defence two potent Enemies to Encounter Common Opinion and Ancient Custom I am not at all insensible how difficult it is to prevail upon prejudiced Minds and to perswade Mankind from the Practice of those things they have ever believ'd and used But what we are now about to prove is not Built upon the Authority of any Tradition but is the result of pure Truth and Light darted upon the Understanding by the Friendly Operation of the Creator's Spirit viz. upon the Souls of as many as have learnt to preserve the Original Principle in them in observing the Dictates of God's Law ●n Nature The Composition of Man at first was all Love and Sweetness it was by the malicious Suggestion and powerful Instigation of the Evil Demon that Wrath Contention Fierceness and Cruelty set up their Throne in the World For Man having estranged himself from the Fountain of Benignity became a violent Enemy to his Fellow-Creatures and having by his evil Practices degenerated from

of so much Science in any Person 's Hands but yours who so well know how to use it and so bountifully to dispence it And I beseech you let the Accomplishments of my Desires hitherto be an Encouragement to me of hoping to prevail with you to give my Curiosity some further Satisfaction in the Works of Nature particularly in this whether there be any fixt Salts in Vegetables or Animals according to the common Opinion of Philosophers and Physicians which shall be embraced by me with the highest Testimony of Respect and Honour Athens 1149. Metrodorus IT is not the least Delight I take to see a Person of your Eminence and Quality so vehemently to aspire and thirst after Truth besides the Complacency I have to be able to contribute any thing towards your Noble Endeavours I greatly commend your Emulation which can never be unjust while you have so inestimable and desirable a Prize in Chace the Attainment whereof will more illustrate your Name than all the Trophies and Dignities of your Ancestors In answer then to the Question you sent me I deny that the Sal-nitral Vertues of things can be fixed for then there would be no waste or decay for you must know that so soon as any Animal or other thing arrives to its highest degree of Perfection those Salnitral Vertues or Balsamick Spirits become more or less Volatile according to the Nature and Strength of that thing Could you by any Art continue and maintain the Oily Vertue or Sun's quality in any Animal or Vegetable so long would that thing remain in full strength and vigour All Death and Decay arising from the Evaporation of the fine Spirits and Volatile Salts Take any Herb when 't is in full force and vertue dry it a little in the Sun but not too much then burn it into Ashes and from these Ashes you may gather a great quantity of that Matter which the Physicians call fixed Salt Amongst Herbs Wormwood affords the most by reason of its bitterness and heat But if you take the same Herb and expose it to the Sun and Elements till it becomes light dry or like Chaff till it hath lost its smell and taste and then burn it you shall find very little or none of that fixed Salt There can be no such thing as fixed Salt in any Vegetable so long as it remains intire for if it were there it were impossible for it to evaporate or fly away but if you burn this Herb when it is in its full Vertue the heat and violence of the Fire doth Coagulate or Condense the Volatile Spirits and Oily Qualities into a fixed Salt which Effect is to be assigned to the meer accidence of the Fire and nothing else even as the Balsamick or sweet qualities in Spirituous Drinks by a fierce Fermentation are turned and transmuted into a quite contrary Nature By these little Arts Men can change one quality into another but for the most part for the worse viz. They can transmute the Noble Spirits and Vertues into a keen and soure quality and thence into a fierce Sulphureous Spirit And also in Vegetables by the help of Fire captivate and fix the fine and Volatile Vertues into a sharp standing Salt and neither the one nor the other can be reduced to their former state but by the powerful Operations of the Heavens and Elements which by their wonderful and undiscerned Influence can change and unfix that that was fixed so that it becomes Volatile again so great and admirable is the Power of God in Nature's Works None of the Chymists Furnaces with their fierce and terrible Fire can unlock the Body of Salt so fixed if you have any desire to do that you must hearken to the Voice of Nature and attend her Motions and Works in her own way Take your fixed Salt either of Herbs Stones Wood c. sow or mix it with the common Earth it will abundantly enrich the Soil and enable it to produce a large and plentiful Crop and by this means the Fixed will become Volatile again and is the Life Power and Vertue of all Vegetation but in time it will again evaporate There is no fixed Salt in Nature nor made by Art that this Method will not unlock and unmix till it becomes a pure fine Volatile Spirit but only the Crude Unseparate Seawater-Salt that we use with our Food which some affirm passes through us undigested The Physical Uses of these fixed Salts are much the same in Operation as to quality though they differ in strength and power according to the Vigour Heat and Vertue the Body from whence they are Extracted is endued with All Salts i● their o●n Nature are quick penetrating and opening and of excellent use ●●ng duly compounded with proper Medicines Of all sorts of Salts that of Tartar is the best and most Medicinal for 't is more subtle and penetrating than any derived from Herbs c. And those Physicians that have this by them have no occasion to search for other let the Disease be what it will Thus Metrodorus I have over and above answered your Question both by proving that there can be no fixed Salts really in Animals or Vegetables And have also given you the true nature and use of all fixed Salts Extracted thence by Art I had thought that by this time I had fulfilled your Request But another Question suggesting it self relating to the former I shall a little trespass on the Limits of ●●●stolary Confinement in order to offer somewhat by way of Solution to That and so intirely dismiss the present Subject Having already affirmed that there is very little difference betwixt fixed Salts I shall proceed a little further to acquaint you with somewhat of the Nature of Spirits drawn from Wine Sugar Fruits c. in Physical Operations All Spirits be they drawn from what they will have as to quality one and the same Operation only weaker or stronger according to the Nature of the Matter from whence they are Extracted Being taken inwardly they have all more or less a hot-penetrating Vertue and are of good use if properly administred viz. now and then as Medicines but otherwise they become destructive to the natural Heat and inimical to the Vital Powers and after a Series of Paralytick Contractions of the Nerves and Sinews induce as their utmost Malignity Death it self which consideration ought to have a peculiar place am●●g those who would make the most ●● a short Life and not lose the advantage of the most inestimable Blessings the Gods can bestow even Health it self When by Burning any Herbs c. to Extract its Salt which by no other Method can be obtained do not you destroy or at least change and transmute all the lively and brisk Volatile Vertues into another quality of a contrary Nature and Effect The same is to be understood of all Vegetations when fermented And hot strong Spirits drawn from them are much less Medicinal than fixed Salt if not partaking of