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	reason_n	soul_n	9,368	5	5.4761	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07526	A true and certaine relation of a strange-birth which was borne at Stone-house in the parish of Plimmouth, the 20. of October. 1635. Together with the notes of a sermon, preached Octob. 23. 1635. in the church of Plimmouth, at the interring of the sayd birth. By Th. B. B.D. Pr. Pl.	Bedford, Thomas, d. 1653.	1635 (1635)	STC 1791.3; ESTC S120122	17,459	26

wanting in what I conceit may not be unprofitable to the countrey wherein I live Read then these notes And if thou count not this halfe houre ill bestowed thou wilt I trust I desire thou wouldest pray for him who if thou love the Lord Iesus in sincerity prayeth for thee that thou maiest prosper and be in health even as thy soule prospereth Farewell Plimmouth Octob. 30. 1635 Heb. 11. 3. Being dead yet speaketh AS the Word of God so the Workes of God are for our Doctrine and instruction The works of Creation teach us saith Saint Paul Gods eternall power and God-head The works of his providence are not behind hand with us and therefore saith the Holy Prophet Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge True this is in the ordinary and common workes of providence But much more remarkable in those that are extraordinary when either the course of Nature is hindred as the Sea and Sunne stopt in the midst of their Carrier or altered as when the Sunne went backe-ward in the daies of Hezechiah Touching which saith the Psalmist Hee hath made his wonderfull workes to be remembred or as the words stand in the Originall and the Greeke translation A memoriall hath he made to his wonderful works id est Hee hath ordained and commanded that they should be remembred Good reason that where God with his fi●ger pointeth forth something in speciall to the sonnes of men they should follow it with the Eye of the body till the eye of the soule viz. the understanding spirit have thence received some instruction Not onely the other Creatures but also the Sonnes of men are otherwhiles made the object of these wonderfull workes of God Or if you had rather call it the subject matter on which he stampeth the markes of his Providence either in hindering or in altering the Ordinary course of Nature sometimes in the conception sometimes in the births of our expected and desired issue Conception I count the naturall and proper worke of the wombe in receiving retaining and ripening the seed for the Birth The wombe is by the hand of God sometimes closed up that it receiveth not as in the case of Abimilechs family Gen. 20. sometimes opened or rather loosened that it retayneth not as in the case of Abortive and untimely births Sometimes weakened that it ripeneth not the birth either not at all or at least not within the just time And all these doe teach us the presence of Gods Providence Well may wee say The hand of God hath beene there It is hee that thus hath hindered the worke of the wombe and withheld the blessing of a good Conception So for the birth Birth I must call that which properly and from the Latine we might call Parturition This doth God by the hand of his speciall providence hinder sometime in part sometime in whole So that whereas all times of the womans Travell and labour are full of sorrow yea as the Philosopher saith Aristot. de Historia A●imaliu● Lib. 7. cap. 9 and the Scripture it selfe in part doth confirme the same moreful of difficulty and danger than any other creatures an evident demonstration of the Hand of God visiting the first sinne of our Grandmother E●ah upon all the sex whereas I say all times are full of sorrow of feare and frightfulnesse some doe receive an increase and multiplication by such accidents supervenient and unexpected dangers of births not capable of deliverance till God by the hand of speciall Art vouchsafe his gracious helpe and good assistance Of these therefore as of the former well may wee say Digitus dei It is the finger of God that hath beene here and manifested his presence by hindering the common and ordinary course of Nature in the Birth of the Wombe As in hindering so also in altering and changing the course of Nature doth God call man to an observation of his Providence Nay heere more than in any thing else doth hee shew forth his workes of wonder understand me still to speake of the Conception and of the Births of the sonnes of men What variety of strange births doe wee see and heare of Strange births wee call them more properly wee might terme them strange Conceptions for what the wombe in Conception formeth that is not usually altered in the birth What varietie I say of strange-birthes doe wee see and heare of Strange in the quantitie of stature strange in the number of parts Strange in the Multiplication strange in the Concorporation of severall births but above all most strange in quality kind altered and changed All these but especially this later sort which alter the qualitie and kinde the Latines call Monstra á monstrando quia monstrantur I would adde ut monstrent They are shewed that they may shew the speciall handy-worke of God and though peradventure deade yet speake and tell the forgetful world that God himselfe hath a speciall hand in forming and featuring the births conceived in the wombe Here by the way let mee touch upon a case of conscience or two Whether Monsters and mishapen births may lawfully be carried up and downe the country for ●ights to make a gaine by them Whether the Births being once dead may be kept from the grave for the former ends Whether the parents of such births may sel them to another For my part I would be loth to prejudice the better and morall judgements of any But to speak plainly I do make scruple of the first and therfore much more of the two later cases For if not living they are to be prostituted to the covetousnesse of any much lesse being dead when the grave calls for the bodies of all Christian births the grave I say wherein they are to be laid up that therein they may lay downe the present dishonor and thence be raised againe in glory And if the parents may not doe this how much lesse may they deliver it over to another But you will say to mee suppose them living why may they not be used to this end beeing fit for none imployment My reasons are these Our delight is to be measured by our desires nor doe I see it lawfull to delight in what may not be desired And who would desire a mishapen Birth to be the issue of his owne body Adde this all Crosses call for Humiliation and where that is expected I see not how there can bee place either for profit or pleasure to bee thought upon But to returne againe to what wee had in hand These Births as I said though dead yet speake and preach to the world the present hand of God in the wombe of the mother In all these accidents and occasions the Philosophers and physitians also who build upon the ground of Philosophy nor can well subsist without them they I say would attribute all these impeditions and alterations of Nature to secondary

suffer Let mee say Lord thou art mercifull to me this case might have beene mine Blessed bee thy Name for ever Something long have I stood upon this because I am sure this is a Lesson which all monstrous and mis-shapen births though dead yet speake for the Instruction of the Living I will dispatch the other more briefely which may seeme to bee peculiar to this one in respect of the shape thereof The twinnes you see are males brothers had they beene borne alive To love as brethren is the duty of Christians a Duty frequently remembred by the Apostles and powerfully pressed To love is to have one soule in two bodies One not so much by union of essence as by combination of Affection And lo here a fit resemblance of this mutuall duty As fit as lively almost as can be devised Here are all the parts and members of Consultation and operation for two persons onely here is one body one brest one belly the brest the seat of the heart the belly of the bowells One I say not in the Identity of substance but in the conglutination of externall parts from brest to belly whether one heart one liver one community of Intestines is more than wee could see though all reason indeed giveth them to be two throughout in all parts yet you see so two in one that had they lived to the yeares of expression wee might well have expected from them united hearts intire affections and more than Sympathie each to other as to himselfe Surely these are not more neere●y conjoyned in brest and belly than Christians ought to be in heart affection These two were one body Christians are one spirit though severall bodies and soules yet one and the same spirit diffused into all to enlive and quicken all Nor would it have beene more prodigious for these Twinnes suppose they had lived to bee men to have quarrelled and contested one against another than it is for Christians to quarrell and contend specially to live in the minde of irreconciliation To these Twinnes had they quarrelled a man might have sayd you are one body To Christians a man may well say You are one spirit why doe you wrong one to another Was that an Argument in all reason fit to compound the supposed differences of these And shall not this bee able to perswade peace nay love among Christians Mee thinketh it should Nay I am sure if this doe not prevaile the faultie person shall one day smart for it perhaps when Repentance for it will come too late Wel I have now acquainted you with my thoughts I have shewed to you how this Birth though dead yet speaketh Truth it is Faith alone hath eares to heare these Lessons these Instructions Nature is deafe and Reason dull in these occasions A brutish man knoweth not neither doth a foole understand Faith quickneth the Vnderstanding to apprehend the Will to believe the Affections to take pleasure in these Meditations Which Faith since it is the gift of God let us now turne our selves to him with hearty devotion desiring him to bestow upon us the gift of Faith and all grace● by which wee may learne to make an holy use as of all his Workes in generall so of this and the like in speciall to the glory of his Name and the eternall comfort of our owne soules through Iesus Christ our Lord. To whom with the Father and the blessed Spirit Three excellent Persons one glorious God bee ascribed all Honour and Praise now and for evermore Amen FINIS O● f●pcu●ae Rom. 1. ●0 Psal. 19. 2. Exod. 14. Ios. 10. Psal. 111. 4. ZeKeA GNaSaH LeN●PhLeAo Thall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conceptio est actio uter● cum ●●●ris ●t famina s●mon foecundum ab coexcipitur misce●●r ●ovetur ejusque vis ad propris● munu● exequendum exc●●atur Dan. Sennert Med. li. 4. part 2. Sect. 4. cap. 4. Vide Se●nertum capite de partutardo Qui ex historiis consirmat partum nonnunquam differri ad mensem 13 14. 15. 18. 20 23. 24. Hae● rara inquit et pene miraculosa sunt acciduntque procul dubio ob semen debil● uter●que calorem ●anguidum quib ●● de causis et saetus tardius absolvitur et exp●ltr●● facul●●● lang●et Partus prater-naturalis est triplex Di●●icilis Nul●us et Caesareus Difficilis ut in Agrippis Quibus nomen indi tum est Authore Gellio Noctium A●●i●arum lib. 16. ca 16 eo quod in ●●sc●ndo non caput sed pedes primi extiterans s●il ●t Agripp● dicantur ab ●gritis di●e et pedibus Cum potius ab agrit●dine partus qui non tantum ●●t ex pedibus sed ex ●a●ibus praeser●im tamen ex mole corporis obvtrsa et exitum ambi●nte pro●t patet ex Sonner to cap de partu difficili praternaturali Partus Nullus dicitur quoties infant excludi nequeat frustraque con●t●r misera parturi●ns s● ipsam o●ere suo liberare et exp●dire ●ortu● nimirum foet●s qui nisi vel medicamentis expe●●atur vel Chirurgi opera exera●atur mortem e● mis●riam ma●ri ●●●●tatur Partus Casareus Casari nomen fecit Ille enim qui primus Caes●ri● no●●●● adeptus est ab e● dictus fertur quod c●so matris utero natus fu●rit G●s●res quod ex utero excisi sunt nom●●antur ipsaque illa actio dicitur partus Caesareus Ex his pl●riq●e mortui nonnulli vivi idque quod rar● accidit matre superst●te et revalescente a Stature This is sometimes Giant-like otherwhiles Dwarfish and Pigmey-like Sometimes beyond sometimes beneath and short of the ordinary usuall and common stature of mankinde and as it thus falleth out in respect of the whole body so somtimes in the parts One or 2 parts of the body being of a different proportion bigger or less●r than the rest b Number of parts The strangenesse here is in defect or excesse Defect when one or both hands or feet are wanting Such was that woman which wee saw heere the last yeere who wanted hands and supplied the want of them in many particulars by her feete Excesse of number Such was that Gyant mentioned ● Sam. 21 20. who had on every hand sixe fingers and on every foote sixe toes foure and twenty in number Hitherto referre those whom the Greeks do call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such was Hermaphrodi●●● the sonne of Mercury and Uenus i● we may give credit to the ●●tation and composition of his name c Multiplication of severall births is rare ●wins are not frequent in our colder climat much lesse the multiplication of Birth● yet such we finde recorded See Se●nertus cap. de G●m●llorum generatione who out of Aristotle Pliny and some Moderne Authors d●t● sh●w the certain●y of this Notorious and in the mouth of every man is that story of Margar●● Sist●r to Earle Floris the fourth as Heilin relateth it writing of Holland who being of the age of two and forty yeeres brought forth at