Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	body_n	holy_a	soul_n	16,669	5	5.2335	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A06357	A display of two forraigne sects in the East Indies vizt: the sect of the Banians the ancient natiues of India and the sect of the Persees the ancient inhabitants of Persia· together with the religion and maners of each sect collected into two bookes by Henry Lord sometimes resident in East India and preacher to the Hoble Company of Merchants trading thether	Lord, Henry, b. 1563.	1630 (1630)	STC 16825; ESTC S108886	68,332	182

God would make him a true follower of the Religion of the Persees all the dayes of his life of which those garments are the Badge or signe that hee might neuer beleeue in any lawe but that which was brought by Zertoost that hee might continue a worshipper of their fire that he might eate of no mans meate nor drinke of any mans cuppe but in all things might obserue the Rites and customs of the Persees All which transacted hee is held a confirmed Persee and one of their owne Sect. Fourthly touching their Mariage and the rites in them obserued They haue a fiuefold kinde of Mariage distinguished by seuerall names The first they call Shausan which is the Marriage of a mans sonne and a mans daughter together in the time of their youth where the Parents agree without the knowledge of the Children to this they attribute much and suppose them to goe to Heauen that are maryed in this state The second is called Chockerson when the party once widowed is maryed againe The third Codesherah●san when a woman enquireth out a husband for herselfe according to her owne free choyce The fourth Ecksan when a young man or Mayd dying before they bee marryed then they haue a Custome to procure some mans son or daughter to be matched to the party deceased attributing the state of Marriage to bee a meanes to bring people to happines eternall in another world Those that commonly vse this are the richer sort who by a price hyre the parties to such a Contract with a summe of money The fift is called Ceterson when the father hauing no Son a daughter of his owne hauing Sonnes he adopteth some of them to bee his and maryeth them as if they were his owne Children for they account that Man vnhappie that hath not a Male or Female a Sonne or a daughter to ioyne in the state of Marriage Now for the Rite or Ceremony obserued in their Marryages it is this the parties being agreed and mett together for the purpose of Contracting about the time of Midnight the Parties to bee maryed are set vpon a bed together for they are not maryed in their Churches opposite to the parties to bee maryed stand two Churchmen the one in the behalfe of the man the other in behalfe of the woman with the kindred of each by the Herbood or Church man to either deputed holding ryce in their hands an Embleme of that fruitfulnesse they wish to them in their generations Then the Churchman that standeth in the mans behalfe moueth the question to the woman laying his forefinger on her forehead saying Will you haue this man to bee your wedded husband who giuing consent the Church-man deputed in the Womans behalfe laying his forefinger on the Mans forehead moueth a like question of which receuing answer they ioyne their hands together the man making a promise to her that hee will giue her so many Dinaes of gold which is a peece worth thirtie shillings to binde her to him implying by that promise to maintaine her with all things necessarie the woman againe promiseth that all shee hath is his so the Herboods or Churchmen scattering the Ryce vpon them prayeth God to make them fruitfull and send them many sonnes and daughters that may multiply as the seede in the Eares of haruest that they may liue in vnity of minde and many yeares together in the state of wedlocke Thus the Ceremony being done the Womans Parents giue the Dowry for the Men giue none the Marriage feast is celebrated for 8. dayes after when such time is expired they are all dismissed And this is all that may be obseruable about their Marriages or Matrimoniall Ceremonie In the last place for the Buriall of their dead two things are notable First the place of their Buriall Secondly the Ceremonie vsed therein differing them from others First for the place of their Buriall they haue two places or Tombes built of a round forme a pretty height from the ground sufficiently capacious and large within they are paued with stone in a sheluing manner in the middest of them a hollow pit to receiue the bones consumed and wasted about by the walls are the shrowded and sheeted Carkeyses layd both of men and Women exposed to the open aer These two Tombes are somewhat distant one from the other the one is for all those that are of commendable life and conuersation but the other is for such as are notorious for some vice and of publique defame in the world for some euill by which they are branded Touching the Ceremony obserued in the Burialls of their dead whensoeuer any of them are sick vnto death the Herbood or Churchman is sent for who prayeth in the Eare of the sicke Man in this manner Oh Lord thou hast commanded that wee should not offend this man hath offended That wee should doe good this Man hath done euill That we should worshippe thee this man man hath neglected Lord forgiue him all his offences all his euills all his neglects When hee is dead the Churchman commeth not neere him by tenne foote but appointeth who shall bee the Nacesselars or Bearers they then carry him on an Iron Biere for the lawe forbiddeth that the body of the dead should touch wood because it is a fewell to the fier they accompt most holy and those that accompany the dead are interdicted all speech because the graue or place of the dead is a place of rest and silence Being come to the place of Buriall the Nacesselars or Bearers lay the body in and the Churchman standing remoate from the place vttereth the words of Buriall in this Manner This our Brother whilst hee liued consisted of the foure Elements now he is dead let each take his owne earth to earth aer to aer water to water and fire to fire This done they pray to Sertan and Asud to whom was giuen the Charge ouer Lucipher and the euill Spirits that they would keepe the Diuells from their deceased Brother when hee should repayre to their holy fier to purge himselfe for they suppose the soule to bee vagrant on Earth for three dayes after his decease in which time Lucipher molesteth it for security from which molestation it flyeth to their holy fier seeking preseruation there which time concluded it receiueth Iustice or reward hell or heauen Vpon this Opinion they all as their busynes will permit assemble themselues for three dayes together and offer vp their prayers at morning Noone and euening that God would bee pleased to bee mercifull to the soule departed and remit the sinnes that the party committed in his lifetime After the three dayes are expired and that they thinke the definitiue sentence is past what shall become of him they on the fourth day make a Festiuall and conclude their mourning The Authors conclusion to the Reader SVch in summe worthy Reader is the Religion which this Sect of the Persees professe I leaue it to the censure of them that reade what to thinke of it This is the curiosity of superstition to bring in Innouations into Religious worshippe rather making deuises of their owne braine that they may be singular then following the example of the best in a solid profession What seeme these Persees to be like in their religious fire but those same Gnats that admiring the flame of fire surround it so long till they proue ingeniosi insuam ruinam ingenious in their owne destruction And if the Papists would hence gather ground for Purgatory and prayers for the dead and many other superstitions by them vsed to bee found in these two Sects wee can allow them without any shame to our Profession to gather the weedes of superstition out of the Gardens of the Gentile Idolaters But the Catholike Christian indeed wil make these Errours as a Sea marke to keepe his faith from shipwracke To such I commend this transmarine collection to beget in good Christians the greater detestation of these Heresies and the more abundant thanksgiuing for our Calling according to the aduise of the Apostle Ephes. 4.17 This I say and testifie in the Lord that ye henceforth walke not as other Gentiles walke in the vanitie of their minde hauing their vnderstandings darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindnesse of their heart but rather that we may pray that God would establish vs in his truth his Word is that Truth FJNJS

of Pythagoras Plato Empedocles Apolonius Tyanius and Proclus and might in Liber Paters discoueries of those parts bee dispersed amongst this people as well as by a Scholler of Pythagoras who spread it in Italy where it found fauour with Numa Pompilius that superstitious Emperour and was maintained by the Albanienses and Albigenses confuted by Athanasius Secondly touching the substance of this opinion that gained the Patronage of so great Schollers They did hold that there was a passage of soules of one Creature into another that this Transmeation was of the soules of men into beasts and of beasts into men hence Pythagoras auerred himselfe to be Euphorbus Empedocles in his verse affirmed himselfe to bee a Fish This made it an abominable crime to eate flesh least as saith Tertullian in Apologet. Cont. gent. Cap. 48. Bubulam De aliquo Proauo Quispiam obsonaret Some should eate vp the Oxeflesh that had swallowed vp his great Grandfathers soule This opinion gayned propugnation and defence by Pythagoras and Plato by this meanes because that beleeuing the soules immortality it might gaine assent with others by this thought of its suruiuing in other bodies after its relinquishment of the deceased as Greg. Tholoss affirmeth in his Syntax Art Mirab. lib. 8. cap. 12. Thirdly the reasons by which they doe induce assent to this Transanimation of soules were these because the soule was impure by the sinnes and corruptions of the body therefore it was needfull it should bee sublimed from this corruption by such transmeation out of one body into another as Chymicall spirits gaine a purer essence by passing through the Still or Limbecke diuers times euery Distillation taking away some of his grosse part and leauing it more refined Againe because it was meete the soule should make a satisfaction for the filthinesse it had contracted by remaining in the prison of the body an exile from blessednesse a longer time till this passage from one body to another had so purified them that they might be fit to enter into the Elysium or place of blisse Lastly in confutation of this opinion for prohibition of eating of flesh from supposall of a Metempsychosis we maintaine that there is no such Metempsychosis or transanimation of soules First the immortality of the soule wee euince without this Chymera of the fancy by an argument drawne from mans dissolution this is the nature of all things that are compounded that they should bee resolued into that which they were at first before their coniunction Man is compounded of soule and body the very dissolution of these two in death declareth this for that cannot be separated that was not before conioyned This composition was by life and a creature without life being in the soule alone it is manifest that the soule had it before euer it came to the body or else that which was dead could neuer haue liued by the meanes of that which was likewise dead If the soule had this life before the body it must needes haue the same after in his separation and by consequence is immortall Next in confutation of their reasons for this opinion We answer First that the soule is not cleansed by such Transmeation from body to body but rather defiled by that filthinesse those bodies contract as water becommeth defiled by infusion into an vncleane vessell Much more since they affirme the soules of men enter into beasts which are creatures of greater impurity Besides those spirits that are subtiliated by Stils and Lymbecks the fire is effectuall to their subliming but the bodies haue not the goodnesse in them that may tend to the soules greater purity in such Transmeation To conclude it is improbable the soule should be enioyned to such a satisfaction for sinne as tendeth to its greater defilement These reasons therefore auaile little to confirme the soules Transmeation in the manner premised We in the last place shall prooue this Metempsychosis to be no other then a vaine imagination by the reasons following 1. Then that the soules are not deriued from one another per traducem by way of traduction appeareth by Adams speech to Eue Gen. 2 23. This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh he doth not say soule of my soule and spirit of my spirit It appeareth then that though shee receiued her body from Adam yet she had her soule from God And this is that which Zachery affirmeth Zach. 12.1 The Lord formeth the Spirit of a man within him whence Augustine saith Eam infundendo creari creando insundi That the soule being put into man was created and by creating was into man infused if therefore God created some why not all 2. Of spiritual things corporal there shold seeme the same manner of increase but the bodies haue new beings therefore the soules 3. If the soules were purified by their passage from one body to another then that man that had the soule last should be capable of all that knowledge that was enioyed by them that had it before and so the Infant should be an experienced creature in past occurrences but we discerne no such extraordinary ripenesse of knowledge in one more then another but that all our habits are gained by industry which whilst Plato would excuse saying that the wandering soules did receiue from the diuell a draught of the cuppe of Obliuion and so were forgetfull of that which is past Irenaeus thus taunteth him I● Plato had tryall that his soule was obtused with such a draught I wonder that he could remember that his soule had lost her remembrance Lastly if this were true it would follow that the soules of beasts should be immortall which would be absurd to thinke in these better knowing times Hauing therefore proued this opinion of passage of soules out of one body into another to be a fancy and nothing reall this may bee no iust cause to detaine them from eating the flesh of creatures that haue had life in them Neither would they if there were great reason to the contrary permit it as they doe in the Casts of Cuttery and Wyse whom if they pleased they might restraine by the like iniunction All which thus euidenced this already deliuered may be sufficient to publish concerning the first Tract in the Booke deliuered to Bremaw touching the Morall Law CHAP. IX Of the second Tract of the Booke deliuered to Bremaw containing their Ceremoniall Law in their Washings Annointings Offerings vnder greene Trees Prayers Pilgrimages Inuocations Adorations together with the formes of their Baptizings Marriages and Burials customary amongst them THe second Tract of the booke deliuered to Bremaw comprized certaine ceremoniall iniunctions by them to be obserued in the particulars following the knowledge of which being something materiall to set forth the Religion of this people shall be the Subiect of this present Chapter First then they are enioyned to frequent washings of their bodies in Riuers The originall of which custome they say began with this second Age of the