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	see_v	soul_n	13,290	5	5.4132	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60009	The illustrious history of women, or, A compendium of the many virtues that adorn the fair sex represented not only in lively and pathetical discourses grounded upon reason, but in sundry rare examples of virtuous love, piety, prudence, modesty, chastity, patience, hnmility [sic], temperance, conduct, constancy, and firmness of mind ... : with the prophesies and predictions of the Sybils ... : the whole work enrich'd and intermix'd with curious poetry and delicate fancie sutable to so charming a subject.	J. S. (John Shirley), fl. 1680-1702.	1686 (1686)	Wing S3508; ESTC R26238	56,658	194

might easily contain that which more than a hundred times exceeds in Magnitude the sedentary Globe Those glittering flames of Night that move i● Mistick dances and keep their orde● o're the drowsie World who that is Ignorant of Moral and Divine Phylophy would not take them for Shining sparks or studds inchac'd in the blew Firmament as seeds of Light when if they are not Worlds or Mansions of Coelestial Spirits yet are they mostly larger by many degrees than this which we Inhabit Thus in case of Womens virtues Antient as the World and Universal as Mankind the Ignorant Indulge themselves in sloath and luck-less error whilst those whom Heaven intrusts with larger Tallents either hide them in a Napkin or suffer Envy or Ingratitude to find a lodgment in their Souls either to detract from that Essential good which God has plac'd in the fairest Creatures or shut their Eyes through wilful stubbornness because thy will not see and by such means be made to confess their stoick dulness or severity Great indeed is the Soul of Man and comprehends more than the Universe it 's glorious Center being far above all hight yet oft like Birds that fly too ●ear the Waves the Damps of Morossness slag it's Wings and hinder it from soaring to those Altitudes where it may pry into abstrusest things from Vulgar sight remov'd and many times as inconsistent as the day with night from what is fondly feign'd or imagin'd by those Protoyps of Wit who would at least seem Wise and yet many times they fall as short of what they think with Elevation they have scan'd and look'd for fond Aplause for a conceited Merrit as those who through a Telescope suffer their Eyes to delude their better reason by fancying large Countreys and Provinces Cities Rivers Lakes People Beasts and flying Fowl in the Moons spotty Globe for should we grant it was a World and did contain all these yet mortal sight help'd by the greatest Art or Invention brought to light in the height of it's Improvement cannot Penitrate so vast a space to make distinguishment of things Imaginations all tha● too oft delude us like the wandring Fire that dances or seems to dance before the belated Traveller whom fear and darkness dispossess of that reason which should make him keep his way obligeing him by fixing his dazl'd Eys on the Maetorious blaze or unctious vapour kindl'd by vehement Agitation and kept from expanding by inviorning cold to wander after a deluding guide which by his movei●g gains a motion through the yeilding Air or like to those that fancy by the Moons pale light to see a Troop of Faires danceing to an Airey Melody and Jocond on their Mirth Intent whil't fear and Joy at once distracts his Reason and in the heighth of a confus'd disorder wild Imagination makes him think he sees a walking Vision when Indeed delusion represents that which really is not So oft has Error found a place even where deep Wisdom dwells as well as in the Mansion of simplicity and why then may not those who have at least pretended to the Study of Female Worth and yet rendr'd so slender an account of it be mistaken in what 's truly valuable in that kind by overshooting the Mark or in not stating it aright as those who cannot reach it as well render it not only uninteligible by over doing and not rendering it Perspicuous in its native Sphere as by debasing and Endevouring to lessen it by meanness and an ungrateful Contempt Rome who worship 's the Image of Jupiter Crown'd with Rays and Stars deck'd with Gold and Glittering Gems Expressed no more a Superstitious Idolatry than Fanatique Aegypt a mean and covetous one by Worshiping Gods in the likness of brute Beasts but to wave this dark discourse I shall proceed to give my Sence in a Method suitable to the Subject Reasons and Arguments for the Capacities of the Soul of Women c. In Relation to Learning Arts and Sciences c. THough Men may boast of their Wonderful Abilities yet certain it is the Fair Sex way boast the like especially a Capacity of performing as much seeing the Soul proceeds from one and the same Fountain of Life and if we consider the Bod● what can we find in it that may hinder in ought being generally more lively and active than that of Man as being made of a softer Contexture Nature has not been wanting to frame the Cabinet of the Soul to the best advantage and has therein manifested her self an excellent Mistress for a Creature fairer in Proportions and more Regular in every part she never made against this some will object that according to the Organs of the Body as they are more or less capable of receiving the Influence of the Soul which Enlivens and supports the Body is the party or else say they why may not a Child have as large an understanding as a Man the Soul not being an Infant but constrain'd to so narrow compass it cannot opperate and this say they appears likewise in an Idiot or a Lunatick by reason the Organs are Imperfect or obstructed or confounded by distempers and consequently the better part though a Spirit is hinder'd in it's Motion and Office and therefore give it as their Opinion that Women being of a colder and more watry Constitution then Men have not Organs capable of giveing the Soul scope in it's operation as the Bodyes of Men have seeing they contain greater heat which causes strength and lar●ness of Body more Vigour and Acttivity more Acuteness and Solid Judgment though had they a Womans Wit which upon a suddain conception or swift turn is many times found available and sometimes presserable to that of Man yet it holds not throughout the Sex nor is it at the best capable of serious matters or to unlock the Arcanes of profound Sciences and dive into Mysterious things Occult and hid from the Vulgar ways of the World and require a sound Judgment capable of discovering and weighing each particular Should I grant that the Souls of Children Idiots and Lunaticks are under a restraint and have not the pow'r to Act as in other Cases as indeed it is true Yet we see the same happens as well to the one Sex as to the other therefore that can be no Objection but only to shew the Independency Obstruction of those Effects but where it is otherwise the case is different for it plainly apears there are different Constitutions in either all are not the same in the one nor in the other for some men are Phlegmatick some Sanguine some Cholorick and others Melancholy and yet of all Constitutions there have been some Famous for I earning others in Arts and Sciences some in Arms and rare Inventions and generally the Phlegmatick are given to the Study of the Profoundest Sciences What hinders then that Women who participate of all these complections undoubtedly have Souls of the same Existence with those of Men that they may not

be as Capable of procuring themselves to be Register'd in the Book of Fame as those who stile themselves the Nobler Sex As for that the Composure of the Mortal hindring the Immortal part in performing it's office is a position frivelous and vain and makes more against those that object it than for them for it is often seen that in crooked and deform'd Bodies Wisdom chooses to dwell a Soul indued with more Knowledge perhaps than that which is found in a more stately fabrick of Flesh and Blood which Knowledge is wonderfully increased by Industry Study and Labour for although the Soul in it self being a spark of the Divine light is Immortal and a Spirit yet it is capable whilst on Earth of taking an Impression by Improvement though nothing can fully satisfie it but God from whom it proceeded and to whom it must return for its reward of good or evil The Body says the Wise-man returns to the Dust but the Spirit to God that gave it Aristotle was crooked and deformed yet the World has not since produced a man of so Universal a Genius so seen in all Arts and Sciences As for the coldness of Constitution that can be no hinderance for it has appear'd that men of colder Constitutions than many women have Exceeded the Capacities of the Sanguin and Cholerick What then may be the reason why it is plain Man having attain'd the upperhand in Rule and Power claiming it by Birth-right as first Created as much as in him lyes strives to keep that station as his prerogative by endeavouring to keep the Softer Sex in Ignorance and to Effect this he uses his utmost endeavours to possess her with a belief of her Incapacitie● hat she may not reach at things Sublime and by comprehending them know the largness of her Soul So the Egyptian Magi● to gain themselves the more esteem and be adored by the unthinking Vulgar had all their mistery in Hyroglyphicks dark resemblances which perhaps themselves scarce understood nor would they suffer any other Characters to pass for significations least the People by improvement in Learning might detect their falseties and grow Wiser than themselves So the Turk will suffer no Printing in his large Dominions least the greatest part whom he through Ignorance holds as in a Chain of Slavery Reading the Histories of other Lands should find how much they are Abus'd The Spaniards when they made a Conquest of the Golden Mines kept the knowledge of its value from the Native Indians that they might not strugle for it with an equal Covetousness This is the main reason why men decline to Celebrate the praises due to the Softer Sex and to let them know in General that their Souls have equal force their Wisdom nothing Inferior nor their Thoughts confin'd to narrower Limits than what comprehends the Soul of Man Through this thin Webb that would in vain obscure their Lustre many have broken contemning degenerate pleasures inglorious Sloath and Ease and choosing the better part by which they let men see they were no whit Inferior to them in what might render them accomplish'd and make them Blossom in the dust as in sundry rare Examples appears in the foregoing part of the Book Nor are all Women-kind less capable in some degree or other to improve those Golden opportunities that God has put into their hands Women as I have often said within the bounds of Virtue the Limit her Creator set is the most admirable Creature in the Universe a Creature so charming that we read the Sons of God beholding the Daughters of Men that they were fair did not disdaign to Espouse them from which happy Union mighty Hero's sprung Thus much may suffice to prove that there is an equality of the Soul and that it is Independent but on God who is it's Author and Instructor as for the Body it is evidently no less except as some will object it is made to suffer in case of Generation but that which they account a weakness whereby woman is render'd inferior to man proves her Glory and ought to be the chiefest Boast not only Nature but the God of Nature shewing wonders therein as an immediate signal of Almighty Favour his everlasting Covenant appears in this as Lively as when first he Blest our Parents in their happy Eden when affable and mild with Aspect Calme he Shone upon them in his Brightness and became their great Dictator e're his Brows were wrinkled with their disobedience e're his Adored Face chang'd into Terror too severe for Mortals to behold Thus Beautious Ladies who in Virtue strive To shame bold Vice and keep the World alive I have my Reason's to a Period brought Yet Writ no more than dwelt within my Thought Reasons that may induce you to improve Your Makers gift to gain your Makers love What Gallantry what Gory what Renown Beneath the Skies is worth a Starey-Crown Consider that Consider yet again If any Creatures Love you fain wou'd win Virtu'l Inamour the bright Cherubim Reasons drawn from the Immortality and wonderful Operation of the Soul more fully proving the Excellency of Woman-kind THe foregoing Considerations duly weighed and impartially consider'd may give the Unbias'd part of Man-kind a just reason to believe that that deserving Sex may justly claim an Equality in Wit and be as capable of attaining the profoundest Arts and Sciences as Man for it is not the Body but the Rational Soul Noble in its self as being a spark of the Divine Essence that center knowledge For as all Creatures Inferiour to Man-kind have their Life in their Blood as it is Testified in the seventeenth of Leviticus so the Life of Man and consequently of Woman consisteth in the Soul which although by reason of the gross Humidity of the Body is subject to sundry passions some more Nobl● than others yet it being Immorta● cannot in its self suffer change as being a part of the Divine Mind and Blast of Almighty Breath that distinguishes us from other Creatures and that every one Created in that Glorious Idea has a peculiar Soul seems to be apparent in respect of the may differences in Judgments and Opinions Manners and Affections though it is no less certain that itsprings from one and the same Fountain of Life and Immortality It has occasion'd sundry disputes amonst the Learned of all Ages in what part of the Body the Soul has its chief Residence some affirm it has its Throne or Regal Seat in the Region of the Heart others with the like confidence and more reason conclude its Principal Seat is in the Brain from whence proceed the Senses faculties and actions and by defusing it self in operation it enlivens every part with Heat and Force with Spiritual Essence with Supernatural Intelects and Understanding and more particularly it communicates its force to the Heart by Arteries Carotides and Sleepy Arteries the stopage or obstruction of which causes despondencies of Mind as I have declared in the foregoing Chapter and