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	nature_n	soul_n	16,493	5	5.5392	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A08179	A discourse, of marriage and vviuing and of the greatest mystery therein contained: how to choose a good wife from a bad. An argument of the dearest vse, but the deepest cunning that man may erre in: which is, to cut by a thrid betweene the greatest good or euill in the world. Pertinent to both sexes, and conditions, as well those already gone before, as shortly to enter this honest society. By Alex. Niccholes, Batchelour in the art he neuer yet put in practise.	Niccholes, Alexander.	1615 (1615)	STC 18514; ESTC S113190	36,315	64

is for the most part to perish in themselues as the last of their name and posterity vpon earth Diogenes being asked what time of a mans life was best to marry answered in youth it was too soone and in age it was too late cynically insinuating thereby that it was best neuer Indéed some of our infortunate coniunctions might haue béene happy embracing his counsell when Planets of maleuolent aspect and influence are vnfortunately howsed like two opposite poysons in a stomacke one euer sicke of of another fearefully portending their owne destruction and ruine yet not to discomfort any that are to enter héerein the best good and most absolute perfection that euer was in the world and most generall neuer did all participate in the fruition thereof although the greatest number did God gaue sight to all yet all pertake not the benefite thereof health to all yet some are daily incumbred with sicknesses limbes to all yet some wée sée are decrepit and lame although the most inioy them these infirmities hauing in their being rather deficient then efficient causes for God created not blindnesse lamenesse sickenesse or such like but the depriuation of their better opposites is the cause of their producement and effect So likewise in marriage God gaue a generall blessing to the first institution and vse thereof Hée blest it by his Word hée honoured it by his presence hée confirmed it by his miracles where hée turned water into wine to shew that those that celebrate it in the right manner to the lawfull and true end shall haue their sorrow turned into ioy their water into wine but the contrary their ioy into sorrow that is their wine into water One saith wiues are yong mens Mistresses companions for middle-age and old mens Nurses so that a man may haue a quarrell to marry when hée will But the Apostle saith héere Reioyce in the wife of thy youth As thereby hée would point out the fittest time In thy youth whilst thou hast bloud in thy veines marrow in thy bones health in thy loynes and security in thy suffiency when thou maist beget an off-spring and by course of time be so blest as to sée thy childrens children ingrafted into the Church and Common-wealth in honourable Offices and Functions to thy peace of conscience and quietnesse in thy last Dimittis Late repentance they say is seldome true repentance and it is obseruable that in these late marriages is seldome found that true comfort and happinesse which it is crowned withall in due season therefore beginne not the world diuide not thy selfe thy loue when thou art going out of the world CHAP. VI. That conueniency and fitnesse in choyse is more to be regarded then either beauty riches or any other addition of minde or fortune IN this one and absolute greatest action of a mans whole life men for the most part are either so carelesse in their will or so blinded in their iudgement or so carried away by affection that they regard not that which most materially concerneth the peace the welfare and felicity of their whole life and conseruation therein for their eye for the most part either ceizeth vpon beauty and those are such that choose an Apple for the red side as the serpent deceiued Eue which afterwards in the taste sets the téeth on edge or the heart vpon riches and they are rather married to the substance then the owner Some againe marry for gentility not respecting their owne ignobility and basenesse which for the most part it vpbraideth them with all their life long and though all of these are ioyned by the King the Embleme of Wedlocke yet few vnderstand the Morall thereof which is a representary fitnesse to bée respected I meane not equality or fitnesse of stature for the more equall coniunction and action but a fitnesse in affection for as that being either too bigge or too little pincheth the finger or stayeth not on so where this equality doth not sympathie in affection there is either a falling off from the bond of this duty or a shrinking vp of the ioy and felicity therein The chollericke man which for some outward respect maketh this his expected heauen a hell by vnaptly conioyning vnto himselfe prouocation and impatience euer to kindle that fire a fresh which of it selfe consumes without further addition the very peace and tranquility life and spirit of soule and body when as hée should rather haue elected as an allayer to this fury meekenesse and indurance such alenitiues as should rather haue wasted the malady then augmented the misery for what concord or society can bee expected to bée inioyde when natures more repugnant then the Elements are ioyned in one frée spirits with miser dispositions where they graple and tugge without ease and releasement for breath and liberty Heroycall thoughts with dull affections where there is no correspondence to there height or eleuation Knowledge with ignorance where there is no zeale to communicate and age with youth where there is no desire of inioyment preuenting the good by some blind inducement which either might haue claimed by their likely-hood in more sutable fitnesse bearing the yoke with repining and displeasure as pressing too heauily which otherwise might haue béene supported with ease and delight as scarce tasted or felt Therefore who euer thou art know this in thy choyce that wouldst for bondage aduenture thy fréedome that euery good woman makes not for euery man a good wife no otherwise then some one good dish digesteth with euery stomacke therefore as for thy Trade thou wilt choose a fit seruant for thy stomacke a fit diet for thy body fit cloathing so for thy inseparable daily nightly society choose a fit companion according to the Poets rule in a lesser sence Elegat equalem prudens sibi quisque sodalem Let euery wise and discret man Chose him a fit Companion The Thiefe for his Burglaries takes his fittest oportunity and society The Husbandman his seasons for his Séed time and Haruest The Lawyer the aduantage of Assizes and Termes The Marchant for aduenture the Tide and the Winds and all these the fitnesse befriendeth the endeuour and shall the husband then thinke to establish his purpose his peace so great and so greatly thereon depending without this vigilancy and obseruance The old rule will teach him new wit in this aptnesse which saith Hee that a fit wise to himselfe doth wed In minde birth age keepes long a quiet bed Art thou a remnant of the age of some mispended youth fallen from the badge of one basenesse to another as frowned out of some conuenient Maisters fauour for not pleasing thy Mistresse that now to support thy creature wouldst smoake thée out a liuing in some blind and conscious corner smell thée then a wife out a little tainted the swéeter for thy purpose and as apt to fall downe as thy vapour to flie vp taking care vnlesse thou wilt disranke thy selfe or single out from the too too common

boldly with his enemies in the gate they are as so many swords in thy defence so many arrowes in thy Quiuer Arrowes as saith one because they may bee so leuelled by good education and example to shoote at thine enemies as by the contrary against thy selfe I do not see but that naturall reason and meere carnall man may bee grauelled incumbred and disquieted in many circumstances of carriage in this businesse but those must bee debated and forethought before the entring therein not repented of afterwards If thou hast laid thy hand to this Plow become a Husbandman in this exercise thou must not by any meanes looke backe for then the allurement of other beauties will breed a dislike of thine owne in which that thou maist bee the better contented haue some part in thine owne portion for as the saying is Who takes a woman foule vnto his wife Doth pennance daily yet sinnes all his life The charges of children the vnfaithfulnesse of seruants the disquietnesse of neighbours would wish for a former liberty and releasement and nothing disgesteth this course of life more then constancy and perseuerance and because it is a Trade of such Mystery and Art therefore as a famous man of our time writeth those that haue but seuen yeares to learne any other haue three times seuen to acquaint themselues in the laborinth of this and the management thereof before they vndertake it therefore hauing this notion make vse thereof either discharge it willingly and contentedly or vndertake it not at all CHAP. XIIII Certaine Precepts to be obserued either in Wiuing or Marriage 1 WOoe not by Embassadour 2 Make not thy friend too familiar with thy wife 3 Conceiue not an idle iealousy being a fire once kindled not easily put out 4 Affect him not that would ill possesse thee 5 Blase not her beauty with thine owne tongue 6 If thy estate bee weake and poore marry farre off and quickly if otherwise firme and rich at home and with deliberation 7 Bee aduised before thou conclude for though thy errour may teach thee wit it is vncertaine in this whether thou shalt euer haue the like occasion to practise it 8 Marry not for Gentility without her support because it can buy nothing in the Market without money 9 Make thy choice rather of a vertuous then a learned wife 10 Esteeme rather what shee is of her selfe then what shee should bee by inheritance 11 Intactam quaeris intactam esto Bee that example to thy wife thou wouldst haue her to imitate For hee that strikes with the Point must bee content to bee beaten with the Pommell 12 Shee whose youth hath pleased thee dispise not her age 13 That thou maist bee loued be amiable 14 Saile not on this Sea without a good Compasse for a wicked woman brings a man to repentance sooner than a surfet sooner then suretiship 15 'T is the greater dispraise to children to bee like to wicked parents 16 'T is more torment to bée iealous of a mans wife then resolued of her dishonesty And the more misery that a man may bee assured of her vice that way but cannot bee of her vertue 17 True chastity doth not onely consist in keeping the body from vncleanesse but in with-holding the minde from lust she may be more maide that hath bene vnwillingly forced thereto in body then shee that hath barely consented in heart 18 A true wife should bee like a Turcoyse stone cleere in heart in her husbands health and clowdy in his sickenesse And like a Tortoyse vnder her shell euer bearing her house vpon her backe 19 Deferre not thy Marriage to thy age for a woman out of her owne choyce seldome pluckes a man as a Rose full blowne 20 Marry so thy body that thou maist marry thy mind which that thou maist the better do thus meditate 1 That if thou hadst in variety of woman out-paraleld Salomon thou shouldst in the end giue vp thy verdict with his That all is but vanity and vexation of Spirit 2 That it is in lust as in riches where to desire nothing and to inioy all things is but one To vncouer more seuerall nakednesse then the Turke from his Decimary Seraglio hath authority for with an vnsatiateillimited appetite and to desire none at least wise no variety is the same I with aduantage 3 That if thou shouldest thus seeking to please thine appetite inioy a thousand and but want one thou desirest thou shouldst more grieue for that little want then reioyce in all thy former plenty 4 Then since what thou canst enioy consume thy oyle to the socket and thy substance to a morsell will not be one to thy pleasure for ten thousand that escape it the variety so large neuer to bee gathered into one bundle of thy fruition to set vp thy rest but the more thou pursuest it the more thou art distracted Content thy selfe within thy lawfull limits and destroy not thy selfe to runne after that thou canst nere oretake which the faster thou followest it the swifter it flies from thee 5 That it were a griefe to die for the full pleasure of any sence but a torment for a tast to a greater distemper like to him that should purchase at a deare rate salt water to quench his thirst which the more hee should drinke should but the more increase it 6 That if beauty or wisedome or any other portion of the body or minde assaile thée refell them with this thought that they are but shadowes of that substance which should the more allure thee But pictures which if they please are but that the patterne should be the more desired Thinke that as each day is an abridgement of all time presents the same light the same vse the same Sunne and Firmament and the ending of this renues but the same to morrow So each woman an abridgement of that whole sexe and infirmity how meane so euer expresseth the same substance the same mould and mettall proportion quality and vse of all other in the world Who then would be so mad against sence though they would perswade otherwise by Title by Trapping by copious adulterating all partes to beleeue as they would bee thought that they are other then what they are other then the same vnlesse worse then other The same way and the same fashion leading to the Harborough of the same site of the same condition and quality though a little more circumstances in some then other beates the Bush and vshers it on Know this that the end of all such variety is no more then one dish dressed and presented by a seuerall Cooke and fashion the same in all one but in circumstance and carriage Who would thus bee mad without reason to ioyle after the whole Alphabet of woman when the lest letter in the row expoundeth all that Text and Couerture And for Title or Toombelike brauery well may they worke vpon the eie of follie but neuer besiege the heart of vnderstanding And as it