Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	certain_a	desire_v	great_a	110	3	2.1561	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53491	A miscellany of sundry essayes, paradoxes, and problematicall discourses, letters and characters; together with politicall deductions from the history of the Earl of Essex, executed under Queen Elizabeth. / By Francis Osborn Esquire.	Osborne, Francis, 1593-1659.	1659 (1659)	Wing O516; Thomason E1900_2	78,114	296

First gaining the Opinion of as High an Impudence for Beginning as the Other did of Folly for maintaining so impertinent a Quarrel It was the Custom of King James and no question of no small Improvement to his Understanding to Discourse during Meals with the Chaplain that said Grace or Other Divines Concerning some point of Controversie in Philosophy And falling one Day upon Atheism He did by undenyable Arguments maintain No Man could be found so Irrational as to deny a First Cause which could be no other then that Power we call God And Therefore no such thing in Nature as an Atheist What his Judgement was of Witchcraft you may in part find by His Treatise on that Subject and Charge he gave the Judges to be Circumspect in Condemning those Committed by Ignorant Justices for Diabolical Compacts Nor had he Concluded his Advice in a Narrower Circle as I have heard Then the Denyal of any such operations but out of Reason of State and to gratifie the Church which hath in no Age thought fit to explode out of the Common-peoples minds An Apprehension of Witchcraft The greatest Miracles now extant making their Apparitions in the Dark Corners of this clouded Imagination Into whose Cause I shall not presume further to peep as esteeming it more Dangerous then Terrible Yet for the better Vindication of such Innocents as are daily observed to pass out of this Back-gate of Injustice to another World Whose Posterns are the Ignorance of Judges and Folly of our Lawes I will here relate a Story of my own Knowledge which if too Weak to refel this Common Errour cannot be divested of Strength enough to perswade more Discretion and Charity then is ordinarily imployed in the Tryal of such poor Creatures That are first made mad as Solomon saith through Poverty and Affliction and After Hanged for being no better advised then to Confess what they never did or any Flesh and Blood was ever able to do Sir Humphry Winch none of the least Honest and Conscientious Itinerant Judges of his Time was in the Northern Circuit presented with this Evidence against Three Silly Women That they had out of propense Malice not onely bewitched divers Cattle and Children to Death But the principal Cause of their Commitment arose from the Son of a Gentleman that was supposed to have layn divers Moneths under their Fascination who at certain Times would Contract his whole Body within the Compass of a Joyn'd-stool and write in Hebrew and Greek Characters though not knownto be skilled in those tongues That a Spirit came then into him sent by these poor Wretches by which he was so Tormented as he did in his Fits foame at the Mouth Nor was there a greater and more probable Evidence wanting For that Night the Judges entred the Town One of the Witches did privately desire the Jaylour to bring Her into a room by her Self where without any Compulsion a thing not omitted by our Witch Finders She told Him she used a Familiar together with the Rest And that they had joyned to bewitch the said Boy but did humbly beseech Him her Fellows might not know it nor she be returned to the same lodging for fear They should torment Her And within few Hours dyed Now upon the Keepers Evidence and others of like Nature the Two were found guilty and Condemned to be Hang'd But under this Proviso That in Case they continued obstinate in the Denyal of the Fact The Sheriff should remand them back where they were to live till the Progress which was to be Northward that Summer The King being gratified by nothing more then an Opportunity to shew his Dexterity in Discovering an Imposture at which I must confess Him The Promptest Man Living upon his Arrival convented The Boy Where before Him possibly daunted at his Presence or Terrified by his Words he began to faulter so as The King discover'd a Fallacy And did for a further Confirmation send him to Lambeth where the Servants of George Abbot did in a few Weeks discover the Whole Deceit And He was sent back to his Majesty before the end of the Progress Where upon a Small Entreaty He would repeat all his Tricks oftentimes in a Day Nor did He do and suffer all this for a more Serious Cause Then to prevent a present Whipping and avoyd going to School Amongst other Prancks he lived in an Orchard a Week upon Apples onely I shall make no Paraphrase nor pursue the Argument further to avoyd Prolixity no less then Offence The Doctrine of such c. Being a Diana out of Which no small Profit is made and Credit purchased in reference to Opinions otherwise Ridiculous and Untenable Give me neither Poverty nor Riches Prov. 8. 30. From this Wise Kings Prayer we may Learn the Danger that resides in these two Gulphs Poverty and Riches The Latter alluring no less to Pride then the First tempts if not Compels towards Atheism and Infidelity Both gathering Strength and Aggravation from the Complexion and Education of the patient So as if Abundance proves the Lot of a Mean Birth and Want the Companion of one bred in Plenty and Eminency it elevates the First as far above the Sphaere of Moderation as it dejects the Other below the Centre of Patience Pride despising Gods power no less then Poverty distrusts it For as a perfect and Harmonious Joy comes neerest to that pleasure and Content assured us in Heaven So Anxiety and Discontent are a representation of Hell Melancholly being the worst of Humours because the Devils if he may be thought to participate of any who apprehends all ill about Him and cannot but despair of better Wherefore Poverty must be allowed the most dangerouus Condition because infested with all those prodigious Effects this Diabolicall Passion is lyable to produce Which are in a manner all we do in this World either Punish or Admire Sin being a Result of Want from whence it becomes so far more Illegal then Unnatural as S. Paul owns the Law for the most Manifest Original and exactest measure of his prevarioations I know Abundance hath been by Good men prized below Want when offered to be made the Wages of Iniquity though None besides Our Saviour was ever found able to grapple with the Enemy of Mankind being Hungry and in Want as He was in the Wilderness Which remains none of the Weakest Effects left us of his Divinity And rather inserted as a Mark of his own Power then an Example for our Immitation Yet such Monastical persons as endeavour to come neerest to it have enough to Satisfie though possibly not to pamper Nature The Name of Voluntary Hope of Merit and the Worldly Respect it brings bearing most of the Charges belonging to it Nor have they Wives and Children which looked through do like Opticks multiply the Bulk of Want When Others not wilfully Sick of this Loathsom Plague as if it were Infectious are not onely Forsaken of All but exposed to the Tyranny of Every