Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	animal_n	brain_n	part_n	5,269	5	4.8629	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51724	Il Davide perseguitato David persecuted / vvritten in Italian by the Marquesse Virgilio Malvezzi ; and done into English by Robert Ashley, Gent.	Malvezzi, Virgilio, marchese, 1595-1653.; Ashley, Robert, 1565-1641.; Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650.	1650 (1650)	Wing M358; ESTC R37618	56,199	263

Samuel when he saith How long wilt thou mourne for Saul God could not if one may say so endure his lamenting and not hearken to his suit These are those waters which in a manner offer violence to Heaven The Spirit of God moveth upon such waters and they make a river of oblivion in Paradise The tears which are shed the prayers which are said and the supplications which are sent up to God for others are as acceptable to God and more peradventure than if they were made for themselves They are esteemed of more merit at least in regard of the moralitie of the action Why th●● doe some Princes perswade themselves that they satisfie the obligatios wherein they are obliged to some one when they yeeld him his suit which hee hath made for another Or to say more truly why doe some favourites beleeve that there is such an impiety in their Princes Let them call to minde that the office of a favourite is the office of an Angell and ought therefore to present the suits and supplications of the subjects to their Lord and to bring backe the gracious grants of the Lord unto the subjects he that doth the contrary is a Divell and no Angell Fill thy horne with oyle saith God to the Prophet and goe to Ishai the Bethleemite for amongst his sonnes I have provided mee a King Hee answers How can I goe for if Saul heare of it he will kill me THus he answereth not because he feareth death but because hee is desirous to doe service unto God he much prizes his life in that case wherein to die is not to obey Hence let those that are imployed by their Princes learne that the death of the servant is seldome the service of the Lord It ought indeed to bee received couragiously but never to bee encountred but when it is very usefull and when the dying is an obeying A man of worth is a high prized instrument of the greatnesse of his Prince if hee cares not to preserve himselfe for his owne sake yet hee ought to be careful of preservation for his Lord and Masters sake Every man that is fitted to die is not fit to doe service It is true also what I have said even in the common Souldier whose life rather than his brain is dedicated to the Princes service that he ought also to endevour to obey and not to die Hee that runnes headlong on death doth not spend his life to the advantage but casts it away to the losse of his Lord his service is to overcome and not to die and indeed they lose that are slaine To expose needlesly to death that body which can doe service to its Prince but whiles it lives is a most pernicious desire of vaine glory contrary to good policy against good military discipline and an affection full of deceit and flattery into which even the Generals whose life is most pretious doe often precipitate themselves as if it were a greater bravery to fight than to command But that Army is but in a bad taking pardon me this digression whose safety consisteth in the arme not in the braine of the Generall To know how to command well in warre is a part of the imaginative faculty The imagination to worke well requireth a good measure of heat whose contrary is feare which how little so ever it bee the other abates and how little so ever that abates the imagination is disturbed whence it comes to passe that to bee afraid and to command well cannot stand together But how many are there that incited more by Honour than by Courage do both fight and feare these may handle the sword well but yet not apt for command The heating of the braine is not in our owne power as is the managing of the hands wee have no command over that howsoever 〈…〉 dominion we have over 〈…〉 for otherwise 〈…〉 not blame 〈…〉 nature necessarily in us Thence it followes that there is no greater or surer signe of a brave courage than to command well in a battell where both Reputation and life yea and many times the State it selfe comes upon the stage The Lord willeth Samuel to take him a calfe out of the flock and to say that hee is come to doe sacrifice BEcause God could succour him by ordinarie meanes hee would not have recourse to extraordinary If hee should alwayes bee doing of miracles men would not thinke his Providence so great in creating the second causes and if hee never used miracles hee should not perhaps be knowne to bee Almightie Where God worketh many miracles there is commonly great need of them and where there is such need there is but little faith When hee is not knowne by his Impression stamp or Image which hee hath imprinted in the things by him created then he findeth it requisite to make himselfe seene in the workes of his Omnipotencie Samuel obeyeth the Lord goeth and calleth Ishai and his sonnes to the sacrifice and looking on Eliab supposeth him to bee the man whom hee should annoynt because hee is the tallest and the goodliest of person Had the Prophet beene of the opinion of those Philosophers who have censured men of great stature to bee void of wisdome hee would not at the first sight so much have respected the talnesse of stature I for my part am not of that opinion but doe hold it to bee most false IF those Philosophers beleeved the neerenesse of the braine to the stomack doth trouble the operations of the understanding and if they have also imagined to themselves that the vitall spirits which ascend from the heart may bee made animall spirits for the service and operation of the Braine are unapt for such effect unlesse they bee first somewhat cooled because of the incompatibilitie of wisedome with heat wherefore have they not also affirmed the taller sort of men to be wiser than the little as having their Braine farther distant from the perturbations of the stomack and their spirits not so hot by reason of their long way and larger distance from their Originall Peradventure they are deceived in that they beleeve that men are alwayes great by the forming Power through the superabundance of matter not observing that many times there concurreth with it as a principall Instrument the Quantitie of heat as it is commonly verified in those whose talnesse is accompanied with slendernesse It hath therefore been noted as a true observation that the tall men that have little heads and the little men which have great have more Braine than the rest which commeth to passe not as many have thought because the little head in the great body and the great in the little maketh a mediocrity in the ordinarie stature of men which is false if wee measure the mediocritie of the part in respect of the whole of which it is a part But because the little head in a great man is a signe that the extension did proceed of heat and by consequence that the

littlenesse of that member commeth through defect of matter in the bony and fleshy parts which being but small produceth the thinner and more delicate Organs which do not obstruct or hinder the operations of the braine The little man having a great head is an argument that it is full of braine especially if he bee but slender for it cannot be ascribed to the thicknesse of the skull because that Nature would rather have imployed that matter to have made the man taller or greater I am excusable if I seeke by reason to overthrow this doctrine because I am willing to verifie it by the example of mine owne stature The Lord willeth Samuel not to regard the countenance of Eliab nor the talnesse of his stature but hee had refused him judging not as men doe by the outward appearance but beholding the Heart LOe here the vanitie of Metoposcopie and Physiognomie is pointed at Beauty or Comlinesse is a most perfect consonancie arising out of the symmetrie and proportion of the first Qualities It gets in the eye because it is faire It attracts the will because it is good it moves the vnderstanding because it is true The Poets in the vanity of their fables have haply come neere vnto the truth calling beautie by the name of the Sun of the Stars of Heaven It is certainly a peece of that Harmony which the motions and aspects of the Heavens of the Sun and of the starres doe incite and hath such a radiant light in it selfe that though wee know not why it doth if not inforce our minds yet certainly incline them strongly The Providence of God hath seldome informed the fairest body with the fairest mind that men might not beleeve that from the same Harmony of temperament of the starres from which proceeds the Beautie of the one that of the other did proceed likewise Ishai having finally brought forth his sonnes before Samuel to the number of seven hee refusing them all asketh whether he hath no more Ishai answering there is yet one which is feeding of the sheepe the Prophet causeth him to be sent for and annointeth him in the midst of his Brethren being the same whom the Lord had appointed in the stead of Saul GOd having at first chosen for King the tallest that was in Israel chuseth the second time the least that was in the house of Ishai The first shall be last and the last shall bee first saith the Lord who then chose the last to bee the first There is no difference of time with God in whose eternitie there is neither first nor second The eldest may be stoutest but are not usually the wisest That tendernesse that commonly enfeebleth the Children of our old Age maketh the organs of their understanding more tender and delicate The cold of him that engendreth gives them the more wisedome and his organs the better discourse whence it comes that if the last begotten be commonly the weakest yet they are oft and many times the wisest He that bringeth David from the sheep-hooke to the scepter and exalteth him from the stable to the Kingdome it is hee that humbled himselfe from his Kingdome to the stable Hee that is both a sheepheard and a King maketh him a King who was but a sheepheard There is a kind of Analogie in all sorts of Commands He that said that to know well how to order a table was a signe that hee knew also how to marshall an Armie might as well say that hee that could well keepe a flock of sheep had the skill how to governe a people well God from the fold hath taken Kings from husbandry and hunting Tyrants The husbandman will have the earth to produce that which naturally it doth not and that it should produce hee wounds it The hunts-man by shedding the blood of poore innocent beasts groweth to bee delighted in Crueltie But the sheepheard conducts his flock to pasture brings it back to the fold preserveth it from maladies and defends it from wolves his taking their milk their wooll is a disburthening of them not a wounding Let Kings learne to take their Ministers sometimes even of the sheepfold The best men are not alwayes in the greatest Palaces a lowly Cottage oftentimes incloses a high spirit and a ragged rock a very cleere diamond The good spirit departeth from Saul and the evill one entreth into him GOds refusals are the devils purchases where the one departs if the other enters not hee at least drawes very neere either to perturb or to possesse Let us seeke out one that can play well say the servants of Saul that the King may bee eased when hee is molested by the evill spirit THey beleeved peradventure that the Melancholick humour being stirred up they that are oppressed by it might bee eased by melodie There have beene some of opinion that Melancholie is produced of the devill The wiser sort if they did not beleeve that it is of his production yet judged that it may easily prove to be of his introduction and therefore termed it the Bath of the devill because it is the Lees because it is black because it hath an Analogie with the darknesse of sinne The occasion of their beleefe was the seeing sometimes how by the fixation thereof men were lifted up or elevated in an extasie Yea and sometimes how the sharpnesse thereof irritating the braine and stirring the Images therein hath made some to speake things whereof before they were not held capable whence I thinke it came to passe that many oppressed with the greatnesse of the effects produced by this humour have often judged the animall spirits to be infernall spirits I deny not there are found some melancholicke persons possessed with devills or that melancholy is an apt bath for the devill but I affirme it not only of the grosse thick and dark melancholie but even of that also which produceth the subtilest and lightest spirits He hath need of active bodily instruments for his operations in the body Hee joynes himselfe therefore gladly with the subtilest and finest spirits because they being in some sort of a middle nature being corporeall and incorporeall are a more proportionate receptacle for a spirit to unite himselfe to a thing that is meerely corporeall An ancient Sage beleeved that our soule which hee imagined to bee at first clothed with aire had need of the like organs to joyne it to the body whereunto hee thought it not united but assistant neither are there wanting among the Divines those that have conceived the Angles to be clothed in like manner They tell Saul of David that he is strong a valiant man of war can play well is a wise and a comely person and that God is with him HOw should the devill continue his possession being to bee assailed with so many prerogatives but that finding in them some rayes of the glorious Archangell Michael hee must needs slie and hide himselfe in the bottomlesse pit of hell Saul sendeth to Ishai for his

pleased in him LOe here a means how one may lose his inward familiarity with a Prince and get not his favour The conspiracy of great ones where they beare great sway undoubtedly either doth ruine the favorite or trouble the state whensoever hee that is greatest with the Prince is not the greatest among them In such a case men would not bee ashamed to bow unto him to whom though hee were not the favorite he ought to bow and there would be opened unto them a cleere way without any dirty flattery or thorny danger to run a happy course betweene obsequiousnesse and odious liberty but this seldome or never happens whether by the cunning of Princes or by nature I know not This Art teacheth them that the greatest in the state may not be called into inward favour without danger of dominion from which hee is but one pace distant Nature teacheth to lift up the lowly and to beat down the mighty and this nature is dictated of God who raiseth the poore from the dunghill to place him among Princes even with the Princes of his people It is signified by the starres whose radiation is thē thought to be great powerfull and glorious which lifting men from low estate doth seat them with Princes It is finally manifested in the earth whiles it favourably cherisheth and raiseth up those plants that are not wrapt in gold that is resplendent but buried in the basenesse of the soile that is uncleane What instruction may then be givē to favorites for eschewing the hatred of great ones The wittiest politician seems to commend such a subject as contenting himselfe to bee the greatest of the great ones in authority about the Princes cared not to exceed the meaner ones in dignity I take this to bee want of knowledge how to make ones best benefit of the fortunes that befall one or rather an abusing of them and that it is no way sufficient to extirpate envy which is rooted in favour and not in honour How many have beene seene to lose their favours with the Prince retaining still their dignity and of objects of envy to become the objects of compassion He that thinkes riches and honours are envied is deceived It is the command the applause and obsequiousnesse that they bring with them if these were separated from the King it were no desirable thing to be a King A very small reverence and a very little place is sufficient to satisfie what our bodies require but the whole world is not enough to quench the thirst of the minde which stands also with reason because the body may easily finde his object in a bodily world But the minde which is a spirit never findes it where there is no spirit It deceives it selfe sometimes in running with the body after some bodily thing as toward a proper object but no sooner is the same obtained but the errour is discovered Those pleasing tastes which some altogether sensuall doe account but as smoake which are the obsequiousnes the reverences the applauses these are the greatest food to the minde because these are the least corporeall There are a thousand other precepts written for favourites both to defend them from the hatred of the great and from every other occasion that might worke their overthrow Some also I could adde which are not mentioned by others but because they are all vaine and frivolous I will not fill up the page with such vanities and weaknesses I will say one only thing being the truest and securest course to maintaine himselfe in the Princes favour which may well be performed and may well be spoken of yet can it not be learnd nor taught which is to preserve alwaies the love of the Prince and the manner how to preserve it It is true that the favourite never falls without some cause but the same causes have not alway the same effects for sometimes they are surmounted by an affection greater than their owne if this stands firme and sure there can bee no danger if this shrinkes then the ruine is at hand not because he falls without cause but because 't is impossible not to give some cause and then the lesser have more force than at another time the greater would A constellation which would scarce have caused a simple ter●ian in youth by consent of those that write these vanities in Astrology is sufficient to kill one in his decrepit age He that would not have his love decline let him hold both his eyes alwayes fixed upon the Prince never depart from him never seeke any other but him for as soone as he turnes his eyes to himselfe or others he is undone His greatnesse his affections his pleasures and delights must be in his Prince Neither let him thinke that by this meanes hee may misse of preferments but rather that hee shall bee sure of them and peradventure with lesse envy Hee that possesseth things that are subject to envy and takes no delight in them is rather to be pittied than envied But who is he that will doe so saving the man that is full of affection and most tenderly enamoured of his Lord It is a thing that cannot bee reduccd into Art though it bee easily knowne Affectation differs much from affection which if hee hath not let him not imitate for such imitations are odious in the schoole of love they that will maintaine themselves in the Princes favour with Art their Art failes them and they then faile with their Art David departs from the army and returnes with his men to Ziklag whereby they finde that the Amalekites have burnt the City and carried away all the inhabitants prisoners with Davids wives also and the people therewith enraged would have stoned him IT is no marvell that this multitude would have stoned innocent David men being angry seeke some subject on which they may discharge their passion yet if they finde not those that offend them they suppose whomsoever they meet to be the same yea and sometimes when there appeares before them no other on which they may revenge themselves they beat the pavement with their feet and the walls with their fists And this is no such folly as many doe imagine but an instinct of nature which feeling the heart suffocated by so great a quantity of fiery spirits seekes to ease her selfe by diverting some part of them in the exercising of some action The passions of the people are too distemperate going alwayes to extremes which is not proper to the people as they are a people but as they are a multitude in which every one hath his particular passion and participateth also with that of the others and with that participation increaseth his owne I have sometimes doubted but I say it is not a thing undoubted that in this increasing the contracting at least of the spirits hath some part considering that a multitude of people gathered together findes nothing to stay it from going whither it may goe without separating and whither