Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	affection_n	heart_n	mind_n	3,804	5	5.4014	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28519	A consolatory treatise of the four complexions, that is, an instruction in the time of temptation for a sad and assaulted heart shewing where-from sadness naturally ariseth, and how the assaulting happeneth : hereto are annexed some consolatory speeches exceeding profitable for the assaulted hearts & souls, written ... March 1621 / by the Teutonicall philosopher, Jacob Behmen.; Trost-Schrift von vier Complexionen. English	Böhme, Jakob, 1575-1624.; Hotham, Charles, 1615-1672?	1654 (1654)	Wing B3402; ESTC R19729	29,679	98

of God when it reveales it selfe in the soule comes like that still voyce of God to Elias clad with the greatest humility and meek calmeness of spirit O what a blessed serenity and divine triumph doth calm the fire complexion in the soul at its appearance there but it here rather remaines in its own inward center and hath very rarely its outflowings into outward skirts of this self-admiring masterfull complexion Therefore take warning strive diligently after meekness in words and works so shall not thy complexion be able to kindle the fire of hell in thee for God loves a humble and contrite spirit Thou art not by thy complexion at all debarr'd from communion with God provided thou abuse not the good of it and beware of the evill be sure thou dost all with a sincere desire to the sole honour of God and crucify thine own will and then thy complexion shall do thee no harm Of the Sanguine THou maist live orderly according to this noble complexion but let not hypocrisy take place in it By the largness of thy comprehension thou art capable of great inventions Take heed thou bring not stubble and straw into thy sanguin habitation and mistake and give it forth for the Holy Ghost For thou hast in the complexion a shining light t is but humane however defile it not nor embase it by the letting in of earthy vanity A sober temperate life is good for thee keep thy self carefully from drunkenness els thou castest thy self wilfully into thine enemies armes Thou art much inclin'd to Love place it upon the right object love not unchastity and pride And though thou beest naturally of a pliant gentle and humble disposition yet mayest thou be easily surpris'd with pride For thou bearest about thee as the air and upper waters a receptacle of all the influences of the Starrs and Planets If thou wilt enter into the fear of God and behave thy self a right therein thou mayest easily find the Great Mystery yet not of thy self but through Gods gracious revelation only thou hast above other complexions a lightsome chamber and an open door thereunto Therfore beware with what kind of food thou nourish thy soul For there is nothing so good by nature but it may be converted and abus'd to evill by the letting in that which is evill to contaminate and commix with it If men despise thee pass it over with neglect and trust in God for this will oft happen unto thee from the wise of this world by reason of the candid simplicity of thy disposition Keep well what thou hast content thy self with the pure simplicity of the Divine wisdom and have not much commerce with the subtill inventions of the alienated humanity lest otherwise to thy hurt thou admit of a stranger into thy noble palace T is better to suffer here a little shame than everlasting misery hereafter If thou shouldst addict thy self to drunkenness the Devill would then bring into thy tender house great misfortune and much evill For thy complexion is most hatefull to him being a property wherein he can have no possession till he hath first induc'd to infect it by false imagination or some sinfull mis-use of the creature A private quiet life is best for thee but thou art full of wandring thoughts and like the air thou art resembl'd to easily tak'st in all impressions and as easily lett'st them vanish again Take heed to thy goings out and comings in mark well what thou lettest out of thy soul and what thou tak'st in that it be not the product of a Starry influence but a genuine issue of the Deity in thee els if thou be not very watchfull thou mayst be easily misled to the deceiving both of thy self and others Of the Phlegmatick THe truth and righteousness were an excellent medicine in thee for otherwise thou art full of lies and little regardest what thou givest forth or takest in Poor soul thou hast a very dangerous way and a vast Ocean of sorrow to pass thorough in this complexion thou art naturally inclin'd to a perpetual defilement of thy self in sin both in words and deeds water hath indeed a bright transplendence and repercussion of light but t is for all that a faint deceitfull mirrour and such is that of the poor soul in this complexion For the water receives all things indifferently into it self be they good or ill which it keeps and darkens it self therewith In like manner goes it with this complexion she receives all the poysonous influences of the Starrs into her imagination and presents them as a Looking-glass to the poor captive soul to contemplate in which false shadow she mistaking for a substance modells for herself in words and works answerable thereunto O what a treasury of smooth glozing words hath this complexion in store to sell like the fresh-springing waters to every one at an easie or no cost yet not unmixt with a conseal'd bitterness from the Starrs-infection It makes no scruple of deceiving with lying pretences which are the fair tapestry its hypocrisie lies shrouded under There 's no deceit seems too much to this complexion Lies are her mantle of hypocrisy with a superficial appearance to be good Christians and servants of God though living in Babel Thou dost not easily of thy self discover the unrighteousness of thine own wayes but if a man come before thee with a spark of the true light thou mayst receive it into thy mirrour The best counsell for thee is that thou know thy self a man more than ordinarily addicted to sin yet mayst well enter into effectuall repentance if thou wilt pray to God for the goverment of thy floting water by his holy Spirit wherewith the deprav'd affection and desire of thy constellation may be restrain'd that it possess not the soul and drive it on headlong into all folly A temperate sobriety will also conduce much to thy health both of body and mind and to stand always upon thy watch and to be frequent in prayer and constant in the fear of God will secure thee against all the evill of thy nature and constellation For he that is wholly acted by his constellation lives no otherwise than a beast But when a man sets up the fear of God as a ruler in his heart the Soul then becomes Lord of her outward inclinations and compells them all into an obedience to the divine light otherwise the cōplexion becomes the souls master and instructer which though she cannot govern in her own power yet she presents before the soul in her mirrour the several effects of the configurations of the Starrs and elements wherewith the foul comes to be bewitched and led into captivity Conclusio totius Therefore let a man behave himself as becomes a man giving the dominion of his life to the manly reason and light of God shining therein and not suffer himself to be hurried on by the brutish instincts of his complexion as a beast to the slaughter so may he win the possession of the highest and eternall good let his complexion be what it will For there is no complexion so noble and pure in nature but is capable of infection from the malignant impresses of the Starres and of the Devill and so the man in danger of being there by led captive into sin and death if forsaking his true pilot he will suffer his ship to be carried on by every wind blowing from that principle Therefore is that of S. Peter to all complexions a most necessary and seasonable aviso 1 Pet. 5. 8 9. Be sober and Watch for your adversary the Devill goes about as a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour Withstand him in the faith and fear of God and be never securely careless of his temptations FINIS

her sad condition thinks God will have none of her when she cannot palpably feel his presence She sees other men that walk along with her in the way of Gods fear that yet are cheerfull enough and supposing this cheerfulness of theirs proceeds only from a divine fountain of love and light in their souls is conceited that she is not accepted with God but rather rejected by him because she does not presently upon her conversion which she expected feel in her heart the like comfortable effects of the refreshing presence of God Before the time of my enlightning it went even thus with me I stood out a hard conflict before I obtain'd my precious Crown of victory and then did I first learn out this experimental knowledge that God dwells not in the outward fleshy heart but in the souls center in himself then was I also first aware of it that 't was God which had laid hold on me and drawn me to him in my first desire which before I was ignorant of thinking the good desire had been my own property and that God was indeed far from me But afterwards I saw him and rejoyc'd at the unspeakable grace and love of God and now write the same for a caveat that they by no meanes faint or despair when the comforter delayes his comming but rather think of that of David Heaviness may endure for a night but joy commeth in the morning Thus hath it far'd with many of the chiefest saints of God they were forc'd to strive a long time for their Crown of Victory nor indeed is any man crown'd therewith till he hath passed as a Conqueror through the combat T is indeed deposited neer the soul but in the second principle the soul stands fixt upon the first principle and therefore if she will have the Crown set upon her head in the time of this life she must earnestly fight and contend for it And then if she go not so far as to obtain it in this world yet she obtains it after this life in the laying down of this earthly tabernacle For Christ saith Be of a good comfort I have overcome the world and in the world you have sorrow but in me peace The precious pearl lies in many an assaulted and troubled spirit much neerer than in them that think they have already comprehended it but it hides it self for where it lies richest and most noble there will it not easily discover it self but rather wraps it self close up as if it would never be communicated therefore let no soul be hereby terrified or amazed She therefore hides herself that the desire of the soul being the more earnestly enflamed after her may in the comprehension drink deep to assuage her thirst and meanwhile knock unweariedly at her gates till it be opened unto him For sayes Christ Seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you And My Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that pray to him for it Have a certain assured confidence upon Gods promise and however thy misgiving heart say no yet let not this affright thee For to believe is not to be fill'd with joy in the fleshly heart and outward complexion that the fleshly mind and Spirit be so jocund that the very heart and reines leap for joy this is not faith but these are only some love emanations from the Holy Ghost within a divine lightning which hath no stability but after a short resplendence disappeares For God dwells not in the outward heart or complexion but in himself in the second center in the Jewell of the noble Image of Gods likeness which is hidden in this outward world But the true Faith is that the Spirit of the Soul with its will and desire goes into and thirsts after that it neither sees nor feeles here understand that of the soul in it self precisely considered stands not in this time yet she sends in the subtill spirit of the will which hath its original from her fire-life and in this spirit of the will is the pretious pearle received so that the souls-fire now remaines in the desire For so as the pearl remaines in the spirit of the will so long does the desire remain in the soul For this pearl is a spark of the Divine love t is the engin with which the Father drawes the soul unto him in his love the soul must therefore stand fast in her desire even when the outward reason out of the dark Complexion speaks a flat contradiction and denies Gods presence there Were not God present there could be no desire or will after him in the estranged soul For where God is not in the Spirit of the will the soul is as wholly blind and dead as to God desires not God at all nor hath any want or breathing after him but lives and disports himself in the heaven of his own natural light and self-pleasing imaginations only is a more subtil piercing understanding than the other beast of the field his souls natural essence being of a higher gradation than theirs Therefore by no means let any troubled soul suffer the complexion to fasten such an imagination as this upon his heart that God is not present with her will have none of her other wise the soul feeding upon such imagination becomes exceeding heavy It s a very great sin for the mind to shape out such a fancy in the heart for by this means the soul which is a noble creature out of Gods Nature falls into great anxiety and the Phantasy kindles the souls fire with this fewell and causes it to burn in the painfull principle Dear soul think no other when the anxious property of thy complexion thus kindled by the starrs begins to move but that thou then standest as a labourer in Gods vineyard thou must not stand idle but be working thou dost God herein a great and very considerable piece of service And thy labour is this that thou overcome the temptation by an unmoveable faith however no comfort in the outward heart appear to support it Be not deceived T is not faith to give assent to what I see and feel but this is faith to trust the hidden Spirit and believe the truth of its words maugre all the contradiction of blind nature and this so firmly that I chuse sooner to lose my natural life than distrust his promise this is a faith which wrastles rightly with God as old Jacob did the whole night which though it neither sees nor feels the least atome of the thing hop'd for yet rests firm upon the word of promise this faith does indeed overcome God as 't was said to Jacob thou hast wrastled with God and Man and half got the upper hand If thou ask what word of promise I mean I answer 't is this My Father will give the holy Spirit to them that humbly and fervently beg it of him And this is that which the mouth of Christ it self hath further delivered When he

good notice of these words The seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents head Canst thou not find it Stay a little and I will light a candle to help thee it stands registred in the same place with Adams fall where immediatly upon the denuntiation of Judgment from Gods wrath upon man followes this sentence of wrath upon thee and of mercy to the fall'n Sons of Adam That the Womans seed should crush thy head This is another receipt will please him no less than the former But if he will not yet be gone but shall still urge Thou art a gross sinner hast purposely committed this or that heinous sin which thou knewst to be an offence yet would still cover the deformities with the outward mantle of Gods gace when as the principle of Gods wrath was indeed kindled in thee and that therefore thou art now the Devills propriety Thus by the injections of the Devills imagination is the poor soul oft cast into such affrighting thoughts as these thou hast been a most heinous sinner and for this cause God hath forsaken thee Now will the Devill lay hold on thee and throw thee headlong into the bottomless pit whence she growes exceedingly afraid of him But when he signifies his approach by these his discomforting harbingers take again a fresh courage out of Christs armory against him and say I have yet something for thee Devill in store that may if thou canst use it help thee to thy Angells shape again here take it and say if thou canst the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all our sinns Item the Son of Man is come to seek save that which was lost What wouldst thou give O Devill that God might become man in thee I have always an open door of grace to these saving promises but thou hast not so thou art now as always a liar pack hence thou hast not the least share in me If I be a sinner the guilt is principally thine thou thorough thy deceit wroughtst the sin in me take to thee what 's thine own the sin is thine the suffering and death of Jesus Christ is mine He for this purpose became man that he might free us from the guilt and infection of sin Thou wert he that wrought the sin in me keep it as thy own portion and my Lord Jesus Christ hath wrought in me that righteousness that is accepted with God this I will keep to my self his death and passion for mans sin is mine He died for my sinns that I have committed and is risen up in his righteousness and has receiv'd my soul into his satisfaction Christ is in me and I in him my sin is in thee and thou in Hell Mock him further saying go too thou glorious Angell that couldst not stand one day in Heaven That wast created an Archangell but now boasts thy self of the sin-register the filthy sins of mens transgressions Take thou hang-man my sins into thy beggers wallet art thou now become sins servants carry them to thy masters so shall I be rid of them so will Christs merit only remain with mee Christ hath said My sheep are in mine hand and no man can rend them thouce from me the Father that hath given them me is greater than all How art thou bright Angell turn'd to a drudge to bear about that sack full fraught with sins from a Prince to a base Executioner Get thee hence with thy load of sin and take mine in to make up waight for 't is mens sinns thou hast most need of nor doth ought else belong to thee in my soul thou hast not the least share here I stand devour me if thou canst. But see I have in me a signe or mark viz. the sign of the Cross whereon Jesus strangled sin and death destroy'd Hell and bound up the Devill to remain a prisoner within the Dungeon of Gods wrath-principle eat up this Recipe with the rest and they may perhaps remetamorphose thee into an Angell Suffer not by any means thy thoughts to dispute with him neither be terrified at his presence Let nothing make thee dispair by day or by night he dares do nothing to thee though thou mockst him never so bitterly he giving cause for it otherwise mock him not If the inward anguish or terror of soul be not accompanied with a kinde of outward terrifying astonishment then is the Devill not there present but t is the souls amazement which is affrighted at the inward risings of the dark Abyss or principle of Gods wrath in her She thinks oft when the melancholy complexion is kindled by some angry sour influence of the Starrs that the Devill is there when indeed there is no such matter When he comes 't is either with vehement astonishing terrors or in an Angells behaviour or rather in a flattering posture like a fawning hound If he comes to thee in the dark and skares thee thou being in the dark stir not a foot from thy place she not from him he is not worthy a man should do him that honour Mock him in the dark saying how-now art thou there I thought thou hadst been an Angell of light and dost stand as a theef in those dark lurking holes there had need be provided for thee whoswillest up so greedily the foetid exhalations of sin some other more stinking abode Let this when he ther comes be his entertainmēt but otherwise give him not by causeless provocation any occasion of drawing neer A stout-hearted man that starts not back for all his menaces he doth not lightly assault especially if withall he take courage and mock him for he is proud and would be Lord wheresoever he be so if the man he assaults will not flinch nor give back his ground it much troubles him he will not stay long there and if as most commonly at his departing he leave a stinck behind him then leave the place for that time saying Fie thou stincking hangman how strong thou smellest of thy own dungeon the draught-house smells not so odiously thus repuls'd with scorn he will have small mind to return again in hast with his vapours against the manly soul Entertain as I said no dispute with him in thy mind for he is not worthy the spending an argument upon Fix this one following sentence in thy imagination which will be enough nor shalt thou in the greatest affrightments need more comfort The blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God cleaseth us from all our sins Herein wrap up all thy thoughts let for the time no other issue out of thy heart let the Devill suggest to thy imagination what he will know all what he sayes is a lie but this sentence is a firm truth hold it fast as thine own maugre all his sly suggestions to the contrary Make not provision of many sayings against the assaults of terror he is too subtle for thee steales the first best out of thy heart that thou forgetest or doubtest of it Wrap up thy

damned during the time of this life for the heavenly sign of the Cross remains yet upon which the door of grace standeth wide open The soul shut up in the Melancholy-chamber must likewise carefully preserve herself cleer from covetousness yea with the greatest diligence for it is a thing no less banefull to her than anger For Covetousness is an earthly desire the complexion is also earthly and this chamber being as was said empty and void its desire does naturally attract the earthly substance into its empty mansion and fills it with such dark matter wherein the meer wrath of God with all unrighteousness and falshood lies enclosed with much other evil of the nature of the terrene property which make the complexion being it self an earthly desire yet stronglier and faster tied to the earth than before Upon which earthly matter the soul-feeding with her imagination feeles afterwards upon the awakening of conscience the fierce judgement of God burning in her firy Vehicle who is inflam'd and made hot by that evill fewell of falshood and unrighteousness which covetousness had pil'd up in store Now the poor soul finding herself thus burning in Gods wrath and encompassed only with that vast congeries of that evill earthly matter of falshood and unrighteousness when this fire is still more and more kindled cannot but fall into an excess of doubting and despair of the grace of God Know therefore of a truth That for the Melancholy spirit there is nothing better than to lead a simple retir'd life in a mean condition where there is no temptation to pride and where he live soberly and temperately not having his mind charged with multiplicity of worldly cares which if he be necessitated to sometimes he must begin and end all in the fear of God and constant exercise of prayer which will carry him on with profit thorough all his emploiments For the Melancholy chamber thus prepar'd is an excellent Councellhouse it hath a door open Heaven-ward while it keeps it self in a watchfull posture of sobriety It pierces every whit as deep as the Sanguine but without Gods fear it obtains nothing beyond the shallow comprehension of the natural reason if she stand open and have her nativity in a signe of which ♄ is Lord she layes a foundation of the great mischief which hath plagued mankind almost from the beginning of the world for she builds Babel and all deception to himself and others of that nature to which with her native austerity she gains power and reverence among the sons of men Therefore let a man that is thus complexiond however knowing as he thinks of that he hath in hand attempt nothing without prayer Let him alwayes in the first place commend his heart thoughts mind will and actions into the holy hands of the highest God to be directed by his wisedom to the performance of his good pleasure and pray earnestly that he will be the sole regent in all his desires and undertakings so may the complexion freed from its delusions by the in-dwelling wisedom of God be in his hand a serviceable instrument of much good Without this none thus complexiond can in the publick office perform ought that 's good and well-pleasing to God Of the other three Complexions A generall Looking-glass wherein their severall natures and properties are represented to the discerning eye very briefly describ'd as it was out of the light of Gods grace set before the eyes of my understanding in the Spirit 1. Of the Cholerick THe man that hath his best treasure the noble Soul in habiting in the Cholerick Complexion must above all things exercise himself in humility els he stands in very great danger he must powre this water of humility and meekness into his fire that his noble Image be not therewith inflam'd above measure for she is full of pride severity and sudden anger and is therefore of all men fear'd and highly extoll'd but truly loved by few except the Divine water from heaven viz. The noble humility descend down and incorporate with her fire then doth her fire break forth into a glorious mild and harmless flame which gives light and warmth and attracts to it the affections of all men For this chamber hath a native lustre of its own in it self in the outward nature but is commonly void of mildness and humility except she have Jupiter or Venus Lord of the ascendent of her Nativity Yet hath she invelop'd under Venus his soft mantle her Devill which tortures her day and night with strong temptations to unchastity and I tell it now for a warning that there is great danger in this complexion yea much greater than in the melancholy For here comes the Devill in his Angells visard of light which as the natural proceed of the fire of the complexion tickles the souls with the pleasing sense of her native light whence she growes highminded he represents all things to her imaginations as slightly to be regarded and so she swallows down glibly and without any remorse of conscience all his poysoned baites of sin as swearing cursing light and lascivious talking so that to despite and unhallow the holy Name of God in the soul is a thing usually practis'd in this chamber the wrathful firy essence bears up the minde that it can very hardly especially in a right repentant abstinence sink it self down into a divine temper of true spiritual love and meekness It rather adheres rigidly to its wrathfull principle will subdue all by terror and make all stand in awe of him If withall its nativity happn'd to be in an earthy signe there is then small good that may tend to Gods honour to be naturally hop'd for from this complexion He therfore that hath his pretiousest treasure lockt up in this storehouse had need be very circumspect both over his inward life and outward actions For the poor deluded soul fixes her imagination thereupon and thence rejoycing in the slight comfort of that natural light takes no notice that she hath still her residence in Gods wrath in the hellish fire till either it awaken it self in her or till she come to be bereft of her outward firelustre by the death of this body Then appeares she in her native colours a proud angry Devill and must have her abode in the eternal darkness Therefore is it good for such a soul not to labour to purchase to it self any high degree of worldly power and honour but if in the way of divine providence they fall to her lot then not to please her imagination with reflecting upon the thoughts of her greatness For she hath naturally a proud fire-eye easy to be inflam'd An earnest and humble casting down of herself in prayer before God is her best security This kind of soul is easily by her firy complexion into the false complexion of a triumphant natural joy which she oft mistakes for the lively emanations of Gods Spirit but t is a gross error the approaches of the Spirit