Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	art_n	year_n	youth_n	27	3	7.8077	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52417	A collection of miscellanies consisting of poems, essays, discourses, and letters occasionally written / by John Norris ...; Selections. 1687	Norris, John, 1657-1711.; Norris, John, 1657-1711. Idea of happiness, in a letter to a friend.	1687 (1687)	Wing N1248; ESTC R14992	200,150	477

momentary shower but 't is with my mind as with the face of the sky when 't is all set to rain Were it only an affection of the sensitive and Animal part it would soon vanish like the phantastic colours of the Rain-bow but my grief is of a more malignant kind and penetrates even into the very Center of my Soul. 'T is lodg'd as Lipsius I remember emphatically phrases it in ipsa animi mente 't is an ingrain'd rational and Judicious sorrow 4. I lament not on her account for I cannot without reflecting upon the divine goodness question the happy state of one who was nothing but innocence and sweetness but purely upon my own And that I do in such a measure that but 't is in vain to go about to express it for I lov'd her as I lov'd my own Soul and however my sorrow may be blam'd for her now yet I 'm sure my love for her could not 5. For she was a person and you know I am not over-prone to admire so peculiarly accomplish'd as if Nature had design'd nothing else in her composition but to make one on purpose to be belov'd As for her outward form she was one of the studied and elaborate pieces of Nature and by the very air of her Countenance was markt out for an extraordinary Soul to inhabit in Nor was the Jewel unworthy of the case for certainly she had as excellent a Spirit one only excepted as ever condescended to wear human flesh Her parts were miraculous and extraordinary so extraordinary that had not the youth and verdancy of her face contradicted the ripeness of her discoursings you would have thought her well in years 6. And tho Art had little more to do where Nature had been so eminently liberal yet so Covetuous was she as well as Capable of improvement as if she meant to grasp all manner of knowledge and leave nothing to a future state to add to her accomplish'd Soul. And indeed 't is too incredible to be related considering the shortness of the time for her pulse had not beat thirteen years what a wondrous progress her active Soul had made Thus far only I shall venture in general that had she lived to be as ripe in years as she was in parts and ingenious attainments she would have been the envy of her Sex and the wonder of Mankind 7. But yet the former of these would have been much abated by her admirable sweetness and good nature A Quality as of it self most excellent so that wherein she most excell'd And here I must beg leave of all that I ever convers'd with to declare that I never observ'd in any such a free generous obliging and disinteress'd temper which mightily sweetned and recommended her parts and made her not only admirable but lovely 8. And besides all this there were in her as in Poetry many errantes abditaeque veneres wandring and hidden graces that want a name and unexpressible Prettinesses which yet were strangely moving and of a charming influence I am not conscious to my self of any partial fondness or Rhetorical affectation in any one part of this Character but as near as I can do speak the genuin unprejudiced sense of my Soul. I hate to flatter the living much more the dead whose names are as sacred to me as their sepulchers My only fault here if any is in the defect for she was as much too good to be sufficiently commended as to be long enjoy'd 9. And now setting aside that particular respect which she ever blest and honour'd me with how can I chuse but be very passionately concern'd for the loss of such a rare and every way accomplish'd person I cannot and methinks when I survey the suddain ruin of my pleasant but shortliv'd gourd I can hardly forbear justifying my grief as the inraged Prophet did his Anger and like him am tempted to say I do well to be sorrowful 10. But I must not be so ill a Pilot as now the floods of Passion arise to throw away my tackling commit my Vessel to the winds and run along with the tempest satis naturae datum est jam Ratio suum asserat Principatum For my ship begins to be cover'd with the waves and therefore 't is now high time to awake Reason from her dead sleep that she may rebuke the winds and the Sea that they may be calm and still 'T is dangerous to indulge any longer the tumult of the Passions runs high and the unruly Faction presses hard upon the gate of the Palace 't is therefore time for the Soveraign Faculty to come forth in her imperial robes suppress the mutiny 11. In order therefore to the quieting of my passions and the resettlement of my discompos'd Soul I consider First that grief is the most absurd and senseless of all the Passions yea of all the things in the world and utterly unbecoming a Creature that makes the least pretension to Reason Because 't is resolvable into no rational Principle for whatever is so must be or at least appear to be either an End or a Means But this can pretend to neither Not to be end for nothing is so but what is good but this is in no respect good and in many respects evil Not to be a Means because it effects nothing but is altogether vain and fruitless And indeed it cannot but be so because 't is of a thing past which even to Omnipotence it self is impossible to be alter'd Our other Passions are to some purpose and aim at some end Love to enjoy Anger to revenge Fear to avoid and the like But this Passion grief serves to no end or purpose in the world and it cannot be its own end because as I said before it is in no respect good It is therefore utterly absurd and unreasonable 12. Again I consider that suppose grief were not so vain and ineffective a thing as 't is but that it could make some alteration in things yet it cannot alter any one event for the better and therefore to what purpose should I indulge it For since we acknowledg a Being of an infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness to sit at the Helm of the universe it must be conseq̄uently acknowledg'd that the course of this world is steer'd to the best advantage of the whole and however ignorant we may be how to justify particular Phenomena's yet we must if we will be consistent with our former concession at least implicitly believe that all things are as well as they can possibly be Certain it is whatever some Male-contents may think the world is govern'd with as much wisdom as 't was made and as the natural world stood the test of the divine Criticism so will the Moral one too God upon review would pronounce this as good as he did the other and why should not we yea we should if we could see this excellent Drama from end to end as he does we should then discern that all those

underwent not only at his Passion but throughout his whole Life must needs be in a Singular manner afflictive to him And hence appears the vanity of their opinion who are little or nothing affected with the consideration of our Lords Passion because they think it was made light to him by reason of his union with the God-head 'T was easie for him some inconsiderate Persons are ready to say to suffer this or this for he was God and not meer man as we are True he was so but his being God did no way lessen the punishment he underwent as man but only supported him in his existence under it in the same manner as God is supposed by an act of his Almighty Power to preserve the bodies of the Damn'd incorruptible among the everlasting burnings But this I think is no kindness to them Neither did the Society of the Divine Nature any more diminish the Sufferings of our dearest Lord nay in one respect it proved an accidental aggravation to them because upon the account of this Noble Union he had given him a Body of a most admirable Complexion and Harmonious Temperature and consequently of a Flesh exceeding tender and most exquisitely perceptive of the least impressions So long the Sympathizing Sun his light withdrew And wonder'd how the Stars their dying Lord could view The Eclipse which accompany'd the Passion of our Saviour was so remarkable and miraculous that 't was taken notice of by many of the Gentile Historians There are three things which made this Eclipse so very remarkable the time of its Appearance the time of its Duration and the Degree of it 1. For the time of its Appearance it was at full Moon when the Moon was not in Conjunction with but in opposition to the Sun. And this appears not only from the testimony of Dionysius who affirms that he saw it at that time but also from the time of our Lord's Passion which according to the relation of the Evangelist was at the Celebration of the Passeover Now the Iews were bound to celebrate the Paschal Solemnity always at full Moon as is to be seen in the twelfth of Exodus This was no time therefore for a Natural Eclipse because 't was impossible that the Moon should then interpose betwixt us and the Sun. 2. For the time of its Duration it was full three hours which is another evidence that this was no Natural Eclipse For the Natural Eclipse of the Sun can never last so long both because of the great disproportion between the Suns Magnitude and that of the Moon and because of the swift motion of the latter 3. For the degree of it it was a total Eclipse The Sun was so darkned that as Historians report who write of that Eclipse the Stars appear'd And this is another Argument that it was no Natural Phoenomenon it being impossible that the Body of the Moon which is so infinitely less than that of the Sun should totally eclipse it Now all these three Remarkables are comprized in the compass of these two Verses For in that it is said that the Sun withdrew his light it is intimated that the light of the Sun was not intercepted by the ordinary conjunction of the Moon but that by an Extraordinary Commission from the God of Nature the Sun rein'd in his light and suspended the emission of his Beams And this denotes the time of its appearance viz. when the Moon was not in Conjunction The time of its duration is implied by the words So long And lastly the Degree of it is implied in the last Verse And wonder'd how the Stars their dying Lord could view Where the appearance of the Stars is not directly express'd but only insinuated and couch'd for the more elegancy of the thought And calm the Relicts of his grief with Hymns divine It is here supposed that the Passion of our Saviour was now over and his Father's wrath wholly appeas'd For I can by no means approve the opinion of those who fancy that our Saviour in the interim betwixt his Death and Resurrection descended locally into Hell there to suffer the torments of the damn'd His own words upon the Cross It is finish'd His promise to the penitent Thief that he should be with him that day in Paradice and his last resignation of his Spirit into the hands of his Father do all of them apparently contradict it But yet though the bitter Cup was wholly drank off upon the Cross 't is natural to imagine some little relish of it to remain behind for a time Though all his sufferings and penal inflictions were ended before his death yet I suppose and I think very naturally some little discomposures of mind remaining like the after-droppings of a shower which his Soul could not immediately shake off upon her release from the Body In allusion to that of Virgil Inter quas Phoenissa recens a vulnere Dido Errabat Sylva in Magna Where the Poet fancies the Ghost of Dido being newly releas'd from the pains of Love could not presently forget her shady walks and melancholy retirements Now these Remains of Sorrow and after-disturbances of mind which cleav'd to the Soul of the Holy Iesus I suppose here to be allay''d by the Musick of Angels in his passage to Paradice An Hymn upon the Transfiguration I. HAil King of Glory clad in Robes of Light Out-shining all we here call bright Hail Light 's divinest Galaxy Hail Express Image of the Deity Could now thy Amorous Spouse thy Beauties view How would her wounds all bleed anew Lovely thou art all o're and bright Thou Israel's Glory and thou Gentile's Light. II. But whence this brightness whence this suddain day Who did thee thus with light array Did thy Divinity dispence T'its Consort a more liberal influence Or did some Curious Angel's Chymick Art The Spirits of purest light impart Drawn from the Native Spring of day And wrought into an Organized ray III. Howe're t was done 't is Glorious and Divine Thou dost with radiant wonders shine The Sun with his bright Company Are all gross Meteors if compar'd to thee Thou art the fountain whence their Light does flow But to thy will thine own dost owe. For as at first thou didst but say Let there be light and strait sprang forth this wondrous day IV. Let now the Eastern Princes come and bring Their Tributary Offering There needs no Star to guide their flight They 'll find thee now great King by thine own light And thou my Soul adore love and admire And follow this bright Guide of Fire Do thou thy Hymns and Praises bring Whil'st Angels with Veil'd Faces Anthems sing The Parting I. DEpart The Sentence of the Damn'd I hear Compendious grief and black despair I now believe the Schools with ease Tho once an happy Infidel That should the sense no torment seize Yet Pain of Loss alone would make a Hell. II. Take all since me of this you Gods deprive 'T is hardly now worth while