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	life_n	nature_n	5,718	5	5.3460	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44509	An account of what happen'd in the kingdom of Sweden in the years 1669, and 1670 and upwards In relation to some persons that were accused for witches; and tryed and executed by the Kings command. Together with the particulars of a very sad accident that befel a boy at Malmoe in Schonen in the year, 1678. by the means of witchcraft, attested by the ablest and most judicious men of that town. Both translated out of High-Dutch into English, By Anthony Horneck D.D.	Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.	1682 (1682)	Wing H2817; ESTC R216940	19,188	42

were bewitched or ready to be carried away by Imps This happens in all consternations and our fears make us see that which unbyassed Eyes cannot perceive and of this a Gentleman who was an Ear-witness gave me this instance of a Ministers Child of his acquaintance not far from Stockholm who being told and assured by his Wife that the Child was carried to Blockula every night and convey'd back into his bed again resolved to sit up with the Boy and see whether any Devil durst be so bold as to snatch him out of his arms The Child went to Bed and between twelve and one of the Clock at night began to groan in his sleep and seemed to shiver a little at the sight whereof the Mother began to weep and mourn thinking that the Child was just going to be snatcht away but her Husband smiling at the Conceit and pleading with her that the Childs laying his arms out of Bed might be the cause of these symptomes took the Child in his arms and there kept him till towards two or three of the Clock but no Spirit came or medled with him yet was his Wife so possessed with the conceit or fear of transportation that his strongest Arguments could scarce make her believe the contrary and the same person a near Relation of the aforesaid Envoy added how much malice and ill nature was able to effect whereof he gave this example which himself saw and could testifie the truth of viz. how in the year 1676. at Stockholme a young Woman accused her own Mother of being a Witch and swore positively that she had carried her away at night whereupon both the Judges and Ministers of the Town exhorted her to Confession and Repentance But she stifly denied the Allegations pleaded Innocence and though they burnt another Witch before her face and lighted the fire she her self was to burn in before her yet she still justified her self and continued to do so to the last and continuing so was burnt She had indeed been a very bad Woman but it seems this crime she was free from for within a fortnight or three weeks after her Daughter which had accused her came to the Judges in open Court weeping and howling and confessed that she had wronged her Mother and unjustly out of a spleen she had against her for not gratifying her in a thing she desired had charged her with that Crime which she was as innocent of as the Child unborn whereupon the Judges gave order for her execution too There is no publick Calamity but some ill people will serve themselves of the sad Providence and make use of it for their own ends as Thieves when a House or Town is on fire will steal and filch what they can yet as there is no Fable but hath some Foundation in History so when wicked people make use of such Arguments against the persons they hate it 's a sign there was such a thing that gave them occasion to fix the calumny and had not such things been done before they could not have any colour for their Villany I could add a known passage that happen'd in the year 1659. at Crossen in Silesia of an Apothecary's Servant The chief Magistrate of that Town at that time was the Princess Elizabeth Charlotta a person famous in her generation In the Spring of the year one Christopher Monigk a Native of Serbest a Town belonging to the Princes of Anhalt Servant to an Apothecary died and was buried with the usual Ceremonies of the Lutheran Church A few days after his decease a Shape exactly like him in face clothes stature meen c. appeared in the Apothecaries Shop where he would set himself down and walk sometimes and take the Boxes Pots Glasses off of the Shelves and set them again in their places and sometimes try and examine the goodness of the Medicines weigh them in a pair of Scales pound the Drugs with a mighty noise in a Mortar nay serve the people that came with their Bills to the Shop take their Money and lay it up safe in the Counter in a word do all things that a Journey-man in such cases uses to do He looked very ghastly upon those that had been his fellow Servants who were afraid to say any thing to him and his Master being sick at that time of the Gout he was often very troublesome to him would take the Bills that were brought him out of his hand snatch away the Candle sometimes and put it behind the Stove At last he took a Cloak that hung in the Shop put it on and walked abroad but minding no body in the Streets went along entred into some of the Citizens Houses and thrust himself into company especially of such as he had formerly known yet saluted no body nor spoke to any one but to a Maid servant whom he met hard by the Church-yard and desired to go home to his Masters house and dig in a Ground-chamber where she would find an inestimable Treasure but the Maid amazed at the sight of him sounded whereupon he lift her up but left such a mark upon her Flesh with lifting her that it was to be seen for some time after The Maid having recovered her self went home but fell desperately sick upon 't and in her sickness discovered what Monigk had said to her and accordingly they digged in the place she had named but found nothing but an old decayed Pot with a Haematites or Blood-Stone in it The Princess hereupon caused the young Mans body to be digged up which they found putrified with purulent Matter flowing from it and the Master being advised to remove the young Mans Goods Linnen Clothes and things he left behind him when he died out of the House the Spirit thereupon left the House and was heard of no more And this some people now living will take their Oath upon who very well remember they saw him after his decease and the thing being so notorius there was instituted a publick Disputation about it in the Academy of Leipsig by one Henry Conrad who disputed for his Doctors Degree in the University And this puts me in mind of an Apothecary at Reichenbach in Silesia about fifteen years ago I had it from a very credible Witness who after his death appeared to divers of his acquaintance and cryed out that in his life time he had poisoned several Men with his Drugs Whereupon the Magistrates of the Town after consultation took up his Body and burnt it which being done the Spirit disappeared and was seen no more But if the Stories related in the preceding Book are not sufficient to convince Men I am sure an example from beyond Sea will gain no credit It 's enough that I have shewn Reasons which may induce my Reader to believe that he is not imposed upon by the following Narrative and that it is not in the nature of those Pamphlets they cry about the Streets containing very dreadful News from the

stranger than those set down in these Papers And to this purpose divers Letters were sent from Sweden and Hamburgh to several persons here in London insomuch that should a Man born in or acquainted with those parts hear any person dispute the truth of it he would wonder where people have lived or what sullen humour doth possess them to disbelieve that which so many thousands in that Kingdom have felt the sad effect of Since the first Edition it hath been my fortune to be acquainted with the Lord Leyonberg Envoy Extraordinary from the King of Sweden living in York Buildings with whom discoursing about these Affairs I found that the Account he gave agreed for the most part with what is mentioned in the Narrative and because his Testimony being a publick Person may be of some moment in a thing relating to that Kingdom I have here set it down in his own words Having read this Narrative I could do no less then upon the Request of the Translator and Publisher of this Story acknowledge that to my best Remembrance and according to the best Reports that have been made to me the Matter of Fact mentioned in it is true and that the Witches confessed such things and were accordingly Executed Witness my Hand LEYONBERGH London March 8 1682. I do not take upon me to justifie the Truth of what the Witches said for dealing with the Father of Lies it 's probable Veracity is not a Vertue that they greatly study yet that the Devil speaks truth sometimes is a thing so far from being impossible that if we give credit to the Sacred History we must grant that all he saith is not False or Erroneous All I design at this time is only to suggest that it is not altogether irrational to conceive that he or his Emissaries are capable of such Actions and Pranks as are related in these Papers That a Spirit can lift up Men and Women and grosser Substances and convey them through the Air I question no more than I doubt that the Wind can overthrow Houses or drive Stones and other heavy Bodies upward from their Centre And were I to make a person of a dull understanding apprehend the nature of a Spirit I would represent it to him under the Notion of an Intelligent Wind or a strong Wind informed by a highly Rational Soul as a Man may be called an intelligent piece of Earth And this Notion David seemed to favour when speaking of these Creatures Psal. 104.4 he tells us that God makes his Angels Wind for in the original it's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and most certainly if they be so they must be reasonable windy substances nor doth the expression which immediately follows in that Verse cross this exposition viz. That he makes his Ministers a flaming Fire for it 's no new opinion that some of those invisible Substances are of a Fiery and others of an Airy Nature and as we see God gives Rational Creatures here on Earth Bodies composed of grosser Matter why should it seem incougruous for him to give Rational Creatures above us Bodies of a subtiler and thinner Matter or such Matter as those higher Regions do afford and if Wind breaking forth from the Cavernes of Hills and Mountains have such force as makes us very often stand amazed at the effects what Energy might we suppose to be in Wind were it inform'd by Reason or a Reasonable Being And though I cannot comprehend the Philosophy of the Devils committing Venereal Acts and having Children and those Children upon their Copulation bringing forth Toads and Serpents yet I can very rationally conceive that having more than ordinary power over Matter he can either animate dead Bodies and by the help of them commit those Villanies which modesty bids us to conceal or some other way compound and thicken Atomes into what shape he pleases especially if he meet with no hinderance from a higher power And he that was permitted as we see in the Gospel to possess and actuate living Men and do with them almost what he pleased why may not he commit wickedness by such Instruments and cast Mists before the Witches eyes that they may not know who they are And he that could in Aegypt produce Frogs either real or counterfeit ones Why may not he be supposed to be able to produce such Toads and Serpents out of any mishapen Creatures and lumps of Matter of his own compounding at least represent the shapes of them to the deluded Witches that they shall imagine them to be really such things as they seem to be Nor is this to be admired in the Devil more than Tricks are in Juglers who by slight of Art can represent things to the ignorant Spectator which he shall be ready to swear to be real though they are nothing less and I suppose we may allow the the Devill a greater degree of cunning than an ordinary Jugler However Spirits that know the nature of material things better than the deepest Philosophers and understand better how things are joyned and compounded and what the Ingredients of terrestrial Productions are and see things grosser things at least in their first principles and have power over the Air and other Elements and have a thousand ways of shaping things and representing them to the external Senses of vicious Men what may not they be supposed to be able to do if they have but Gods permission to exert their power and that God doth sometimes permit such things we have reason to believe who read what signs and wonders Simon Magus and Apollonius Tyanaeus wrought by the power of darkness and how not a few men sin to that degree that God suffers them to be led Captive by the Devil and dooms them to that slavery we read of in the Revelation He that is filthy let him be filthy still Spirits by being Devils do not lose their nature and let any man in sober sadness consider what Spirits are said to be able to do in Scripture and what they have done and compare those passages with what is said in the following Relation and he will not think those things the Witches confessed altogether impossible Yet still as I said before I do not pretend to be their Advocate but shall leave it to the Reader to judge of the truth or untruth of their Confessions as he sees occasion only beg of him not to condemn every thing as a falshood before due consideration of what Spirits are capable of doing That in so great a multitude as were Accused Condemned and Executed for Witches there might be some who suffered unjustly and owed their death more to the Malice of their Neighbours than to their skill in the Black Art I will readily grant nor will I deny that when the News of these Transactions and how the Children bewitched fell into Fits and strange unusual Postures spread abroad in the Kingdom some fearful and credulous people if they saw their Children any way disordered might think they

AN ACCOUNT Of what happen'd in the KINGDOM OF SWEDEN In the Years 1669 and 1670 and upwards In Relation to some Persons that were accused For Witches AND TRYED and EXECUTED By the Kings Command Together with the Particulars of a very sad Accident that befel a Boy at Malmoe in Schonen in the Year 1678. by the means of Witchcraft attested by the Ablest and most judicious Men of that Town Both Translated out of High-Dutch into English By Anthony Horneck D. D. Printed for S. Lownds 1682. The Translators PREFACE TO THE READER Shewing what Credit may be given to the Matter of Fact related in the ensuing Narrative THat we are to believe nothing but what we have seen is a rule so false that we dare not call our selves rational Creatures and avouch it yet as irrational as the Maxim is 't is become modish with some Men and those no very mean Wits neither to make use of it and though they will hardly own it in its full Latitude yet when it comes to Particulars let the Reasons to the contrary be never so pregnant or convincing they 'll hugg it as their sacred Anchor and laugh at all those credulous Wretches that without seeing are so easily chous'd into an imprudent Confidence And this pitiful Stratagem we find practised in no affair so much as that of Spirits and Witches and Apparitions which must all be Fancies and Hypocondriack Dreams and the effects of distempered Brains because their own are so dull as not to be able to pierce into those Mysteries I do not deny but the Imagination may be and is sometime deluded and melancholy People may fancy they hear Voices and see very strange things which have no other foundation but their own weakness and like Bubbles break into Air and nothing by their own vanity Yet as no man doth therefore take unpolisht Diamonds to be Pebbles because they do look like them so neither must all passages of this nature we hear or read of be traduced as self-conceit or derided as Old Wives Fables because some smell strong of Imposture and Sophistication We believe men of Reason and Experience and free from Fumes when a person of ordinary Intellectuals finds no great credit with us and if we think our selves wise for so doing why should any Man so much forget himself as to be an Infidel in point of such Phaenomena's when even the most judicious men have had experience of such passages It seems to me no less than madness to contradict what both wise and unwise Men do unanimously agree in and how Jews Heathens Mahometans and Christians both learned and unlearned should come to conspire into this Cheat as yet seems to me unaccountable If some few melancholy Monks or old Women had seen such Ghosts and Apparitions we might then suspect that what they pretend to have seen might be nothing but the effect of a disordered Imagination but when the whole World as it were and Men of all Religions Men of all Ages too have been forced by strong evidences to acknowledge the truth of such occurrences I know not what strength there can be in the Argument drawn from the consent of Nations in things of a sublimer nature if here it be of no efficacy Men that have attempted to evade the places of Scripture which speak of Ghosts and Witches we see how they are forced to turn and wind the Texts and make in a manner Noses of Wax of them and rather squeeze than gather the sence as if the holy Writers had spoke like Sophisters and not like Men who made it their business to condescend to the capacity of the Common people Let a man put no force at all on those passages of holy Writ and then try what sence they are like to yield It 's strange to see how some Men have endeavoured to elude the Story of the Witch of Endor and as far as I can judge play more Hocus-pocus tricks in the explication of that passage than the Witch herself did in raising the deceased Samuel To those Straits is Falshood driven while Truth loves Plain and undisguised Expressions and Errour will seek out Holes and Labyrinths to hide it self while Truth plays above-board and scorns the subterfuges of the Sceptick Interpreter Men and Brethren why should it seem a thing incredible with you that God should permit Spirits to appear and the Devil to exert his Power among Men on Earth Hath God ever engaged his Word to the contrary Or is it against the nature of Spirits to form themselves new Vehicles and visible shapes or to animate grosser substances to shew themselves to Mortals upon certain occasions I am so much a Prophet as to foresee what will be the fate of the ensuing story nor can I suppose that upon the reading of it Mens verdicts will be much changed from what they were if they have set up this resolution to believe nothing that looks like the shadow of an Apparition though the things mentioned here cannot be unknown to any that have been conversant with foreign Affairs of late years And though there cannot be a greater evidence than the testimony of a whole Kingdom yet your nicer Men will think it a disparagement to them to believe it nor will it ever extort Assent from any that build the reputation of their wit upon contradicting what hath been received by the vulgar The passages here related wrought so great a Consternation not onely on the Natives but Strangers too that the Heer Christian Rumpf then Resident for the States General at Stockholm thought himself obliged to send away his little Son for Holland lest he should be endangered by those villanous practices which seem'd to threaten all the Inhabitants of the Kingdom And be that doubts of it may be satisfied at Dr. Harrel's in St. James's Park to whom the Letter was written And a friend of mine in Town being then in Holstein remembers very well that the Duke of Holstein sent an Express to the King of Sweden to know the truth of this famous Witchcraft To whom the King modestly replied That his Judges and Commissioners had caused divers Men Women and Children to be Burnt and Executed upon such pregnant Evidences as were brought before them but whether the Actions they confessed and which were proved against them were real or onely effects of strong Imagination he was not as yet able to determine Add to all this that the Circumstances mentioned in the ensuing Narrative as I am informed are at this day to be seen in the Royal Chancery at Stockholm and a person of my acquaintance offered me to procure Copy of them under the hands of publick Registers if I desired it Not to mention that in the year 72. Baron Sparr who was sent Embassador from the Crown of Sweden to the Court of England did upon his word aver the matter of Fact recorded here to be undoubtedly true to several persons of Note and Eminency with other particulars