Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	father_n	son_n	time_n	5,482	5	3.8470	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A87710	The idiot in four books. The first and second of wisdome. The third of the minde. The fourth of statick experiments, or experiments of the ballance. By the famous and learned C. Cusanus.; Idiota. English.	Nicholas, of Cusa, Cardinal, 1401-1464.	1650 (1650)	Wing K394; Thomason E1383_1; ESTC R202666	78,826	217

Thou saist right and it pleaseth me well to have heard this word from thee for as all knowledge of the taste of that thing which was never tasted is empty and barren untill the sense of tasting do reach it so likewise of this wisdome which no man tasteth by hearsay but he onely tasteth which receives it in his internall taste and he beares witnesse not of those things he hath heard but which he hath experimentally tasted in himselfe To know the many descriptions of love which the Saints have left unto us without the taste of love is but a certaine emptinesse Wherefore for him that seekes eternal wisdome it is not sufficient to know those things which are read of it but it is very necessary that having found by his understanding where it is he then make it his owne as he that hath found a field wherein there is a great treasure cannot rejoyce in or enjoy that treasure being in another mans and not his owne field therefore he selleth all and byeth that field that he may have the treasure in his owne field he must then sell and give away all his owne things for the eternall wisdome will not be had but where the haver kept nothing of his owne to the end he might have that and that which we have of our owne are our vices and that which we have of the eternall wisdome are nothing else but good things Wherefore the spirit of Wisdome dwelleth not in a body subject to sinnes nor in an evill willing soule But in his own pure field and sapientiall clean image as in his holy temple for where the eternall wisdome dwels there is the Lords field bearing immortall fruit for it is the field of vertues which wisdome tilleth from whence growe the fruits of the Spirit which are Righteousnesse Peace Fortitude Temperance Chastity Patience and such like Orator Thou hast abundantly explained these things but now answer me I pray thee is not God the beginning of all things Idiot Who doubts it Orator Is the eternall wisdome any thing else but God Idiot Farre be it we should say it is any thing else It is God Orator Did not God forme or create all things by his word Idiot He did Orator Is the Word God Idiot It is Orator Is wisedom so Idiot To say that God made all things in wisdome is no more to say then that that God created all things by his word but consider how all that is might be and might so be and is and God that gives it the actualnesse of being is he with whom there is power by which the thing might be produced from not being to being and he is God the Father which may be called Entity or Unity because he doth by his omnipotence necessitate that to be which was nothing for God gives it such a beeing that it is this as heaven for example and nothing else neither more nor lesse And this God is the word the wisedom the son of the Father and may be called the equality of Unity or Entity Then there is a being and being so united that it is and this it hath from God which is the connection knitting all things together and it is God the holy Spirit for it is the Spirit that unites and knits together all things in the univers and in us As therefore nothing begets unity but it is the first principle not principiated or the first beginning not begun so nothing begets the Father who is eternall and equality proceeds from or is begotten of unity so the son from the Father and the knot or bond proceedeth from unity and its equality so the holy spirit from the Father and the sonne wherefore every thing that it may have being and such a beeing in which it is hath need of a unitrine principle namely of God three and one of whom there might much more be said if the time would give leave the wisedome therefore which is the equality it selfe of being is the word or reason of things for it is as an infinite intellectuall forme for the forme gives to the thing that it is form'd Therefore an infinite forme is the actuality of al formable things formes and the most precise equality of them all for as if there were an infinite circle it would be the true samplar of all figurable figures and the equality of the being of every figure for it would be a triangle an hexagone a decagone so forth the most adequate measure of them all though a most simple figure so infinite wisedome is simplicity complicating all formes the most adequate measure of them all as if the most perfect Idea of omnipotent art should be the art it selfe and most simple forme of every thing formable by art So that if thou looke upon the form of a man thou shalt finde the forme of the divine art the most precise sampler thereof as if it were nothing else at all then the sampler of the forme of a man so if thou looke to the forme of Heaven and turn thy selfe to the forme of the divine art thou shalt not be able to conceive it any other thing then the sampler of this forme of Heaven And so of all formes form'd or formable The art or wisedome of God the Father is the most simple forme and yet the only and most equall example of infinite formable formes although variable O how admirable is that forme whose most simple infinity all formable formes cannot explicate or shew the uttermost of And he onely that by a most sublime understanding lifteth himselfe above all opposition sees it to be most true as if any man would marke the naturall force which is in a unity he should see that power if he would conceive the same to be in act as a cetaine forme visible by the understanding only and that afarre of and because the power of a unity would be most simple it must needs be a most simple infinity In the next place if the fame man would turne himselfe to the forme of numbers in considering a duality a or a tennality and would then return to the actuall power of a unity he should see that forme which is put to be the actuall power of the unity to be the most precise samplar of duality tennality or any other numerable number for this would the infinity of that forme doe which is called the power of unity that whilest thou lookest to duality that forme can be neither greater nor lesse then the forme of duality whereof it is the most precise samplar Thus thou seest that one and the same simple wisedome of God because it is infinite is the most true samplar of all formable formes and this is his reaching by which he reacheth all things boundeth or limiteth and disposeth them for it is in all formes as the truth in the image the samplar in the thing exemplified the forme in the figure and precisenesse in assimilation or likenesse and although

absolute creative art subsisting by it self that the art may be the workman and the mastery the master this art hath in its essence necessarily omnipotence that nothing can resist it wisdome to know what it doth and the connexion of omnipotence with wisdom that what it willeth may be done That connexion having in it self wisdome and omnipotence is the spirit as it were will or desire for of things impossible and utterly unkown there is neither will nor desire So in the most perfect will there is wisdome and power and by a certain similitude it is called a spirit because motion is not without spirit insomuch that whatsoever causeth motion in the mind and all things else we call a spirit And by motion all men do what they will do Therefore the power of a creative art which is an absolute and infinite art or the blesshed God doth all things in his spirit or will in the which is the wisdome of the Son and the omnipotence of the Father that his worke may be of one individed Trinity Of this connexin spirit or will the Platonists were ignorant which did not see this spirit to be God but thought it to be principiated by God and to be the soul of the world as our understanding soul animates our body Nor did the Peripateticks see this spirit which thought this power to be nature hidden in all things from which is motion and rest when indeed it is God absolute blessed for evermore Orat. How it rejoyceth me to hear so plain an exposition but I pray thee help us againe with some example to conceive the creation of our mind in this our body Id. Thou hast already heard of this matter but because variety of examples makes that which in it self is unexpressible somewhat more clear I will obey thee Behold thou knowest that our mind is a certaine power having the image of that Divine art we spake of Therefore all things which are most truly in the Divine art are truly in our mind as the image thereof Therefore our mind is created by that creating art as if that art would create it self And because that infinite art is un-multiplyable it behooveth that there arise an image thereof even as if a painter would paint himself and himself being not multiplyable by painting himself there should rise his image And because an image how perfect soever if it cannot become more and more perfect and conformable to the samplar is never so perfect as any imperfect image which hath power to conform it self more and more without limitation to the unapproachable samplar for in this the image after the best manner it may doth imitate infinity As if a painter should make two pictures of himself whereof the one being dead should seem actually more like him but the other should be alive and though for the present lesse like yet such a one as being by its object stirred up to motion could alwayes make it self more and more conformable to the samplar no man would doubt that this second picture were more perfect and more expressing the art of the painter So every mind yea even ours though created beneath all others hath from God that as well as it can it is a perfect and living image of the infinite art Therefore it is three and one having power wisdome and the connexion of both after such a manner that as a perfect image of the art being stirred up it can more and more conforme its self to its samplar So that our mind though in the beginning of its creation it have no actuall resplendence of the creating art in Trinity and unity yet it hath that concreated power that being stirred up it can make it self more and more conformable to the actuality of the Divine art And therefore in the unity of its essence is power wisdome and will And in-its essence do coinside the master and the mastery as in a living image ot the infinite art which being stirred up can all wayes without end make it self more and more conformable to the Divine actuality the inaccessible precision of the infinite art alwayes remaining Orat. Most wonderfully and plainly but I pray thee how it the mind infused by creation Id. Then haft heretofore heard me of this argument Now take the same thing againe by another example Ath. Then the Idiot taking a glasse and letting it hang down between his finger and thumb he touched the glasse and it gave a found and after a little while the glasse was crack'd and the sound ceaseth Then said the Id. In this fame hanging glasse by my power there arose a certaine power which moved the glasse whence came sound and when that proportion of the glasse in the which the sound was and by consequence the motion resided was dissolved the motion there ceased and likewise upon the ceasing of the motion the sound But it that power had not depended upon the glasse and therefore would not have ceased upon the cracking of the glasse but have subsisted without the glasse thou should'st have an example how that power is created in us which makes motion and harmony and then ceaseth to make it when the proportion is dissolved though for all that it doth not cease to be As if I in giving thee a Lute should in and with the Lute give thee the skill cunning to play upon a Lute if the art and skill did not depend upon the given Lute though given in and with the Lute then although the Lute were broken yet the art and skill for all that would not be dissipated though there were never a Lute found in the whole world that were fit for thee CHAP. XIV How the mind is said to come down from the milky way through the planets to the body and so to returne and how the notions of separated spirits are indelible and ours delible Phil. THou bringest fit and faire examples for things so strange and remote from sense and because the Sun is ready to set and so we can stay no longer together tell us I pray the what the Philosophers mean in saying that the souls came down from the milky way through the Planets into bodies and so return to the milky way againe and why Aristotle willing to expresse the power of the soul begins at Reason saying that the soul from Reason ascends to doctrine from doctrine to intellectibility but Plato contrarywise makes intellectibility the beginning and saith that by degenerating intellectibility is made doctrine or intelligence and intelligence by degenerating becomes Reason Id. I know not their writings But peradventure the first that spoke of the assent and discent of souls meant the same that Plato and Aristotle did For Plato looking to the image of the Creator which is chiefly in intelectibility where the mind conforms it self to the Divine simplicity there placed the beginning and made it the subfstance of the mind which he will have remaine after death that by the order of

of the future event though himselfe see not from whence the motion comes as he which feels somewhat in his eye which he seeth not askes of another that he would see what it is that hurts him Orat. I think thou meanest as in the wheel of Pythagoras by the various combination of the name of the asker his mother the houre of the day and the light of the moon there is a way taught of giving answers Or as a Prophet makes judgement from lots or casuall reading of Sibills books or the Psalter or from houses or Geomantick figures or the chattering of birds or the bending of the flame of fire or the relation of a third man or any other casuall chance that interveines Id. There have been such that have indirectly sought to give answers by conference which they had with the asker in making him tell some newes of the disposition of his country if the impulsive spirit must needs manifest it selfe in long discourses For if the demander enclined to sad talk such was the event of the thing thought to bee is if to glad and merry speach then the isse would be accordingly But I imagined conjectures might bee formed accordingly to the face garments motion of the eyes form of words and of weights looking upon the Lot of those things which I bide the demander again and again should be brought unto me yet the more precious conjectures were from him from whom some truer thing fell without premeditation in whom a certain presaging spirit seem'd to speake neverthelesse in this matter I neither thinke the art possible nor that he that hath it can communicate his judgement nor that a wise man ought to employ himselfe about it Orat. Thou saiest very well For St. Austine reports that in his time there was a certain drunken companion who could discerne the thoughts of mens minds discover theeves and shew other secret things after a strange manner and yet was in the meane time a light vaine follow and no wise man Id. I know that I my self have foretold many things as the spirit gave it to me and in the meane time was utterly ignorant of the cause At length I seemed to see that it was not lawfull for a grave man to speake without cause and so ever after I held my peace Orat. Seeing then there is enough said concerning these motions of the stars add something now of Masick Id. To musick the Experiments of the Balance are most profitable For by the diversity of weights of two Bells that sound a tone it is knowne in what proportion of harmony the tone consisteth So also by the weight of Pipes and of Waters that fill the Pipes is knowne the proportion of a Diapason Diapente and Diatessaron and all other Harmonyes that are any wayes formable Likewise by the weight of Hammers form whose blowes upon an Anvil there ariseth any hammer and by the weight of droppes that droppe from some Rock into a Pond and make divers sounds and of Pips and all other musicall instruments the reason is best and most precisely reached by the Ballance Orat. Is it so in voices and songs Id. Yes generally all harmonicall concords are most subtilly found out by weights yea the weight of a thing is properly the harmonicall proportion arising from the various combination of divers things Also the friendships and enmities of living Creatures and of men of the same species and whatsoever else is weighed by harmonicall concordances and contrary dissonances So the health of a man is weighed by harmony and sicknesse by that which is contrary to harmony nay after the same manner also lightnesse and heavinesse prudence and simplicity and many such things if thou marke diligently Orat. What thinkest thou of Geometry Id. I thinke the nearest proportions of the circle and the square and all other things which belong to the difference of the capacity of figures may fitly be proved by weights then any other wayes For if thou make a vessell like a column of a known Diameter and height and another like a Cube of the same Diameter and height and then fill them both with water and weigh the water by the diversity of weights will appeare unto thee the proposition of the square to the circle And by this meanes thou mayst give a guesse at the squaring of a circle and whatsoever about this thou desirest to know So if thou take too equall plates and bending one of them round into a circle make thereof a piller-fashioned vessell and of the other makest a cubick square one and then fillest these vessells with water Thou shalt by the differing weights of water know the different capacity of a circle and a square of the same circumference So having many such plates every way equall thou mayst search the differences of the capacities in a triangled a five cornered a six cornered vessell and so forth In like manner by weight thou mayst come to the knowledge of capacities of vessells of what shape soever and to instruments of measuring and weighing How Ballances are made How one pound weight can life up a thousand by the distance thereof from the Center and the various descent either straight or crooked And how all the subtill instruments of Ships and other engines ought to bee made And therefore I thinke this statick knowledge very profitable for whatsoever belongs to Geometry Thou mayst also if thou wilt and beest crurious weigh the numbers of Haires Leaves Graines Sands in one bushell or of any thing else if putting a small quantity in the Ballance and taking the weight and number of them thou afterward weigh the whole For by the proportion of weight to weight thou mayst know the proportion of number to number Orat. Thou hast now explained the causes why thou wishest the weights of things were taken by the ballance and orderly written It is very likely the booke would bee exceeding profitable great wen would be solilited that in divers provinces they might be consigned and brought into one that so we might be the more easily lead to many things that are yet hidden from us For my part I will not cease to further the doing of it every where Id. If thou lovest me be diligent in it and so farewell FINIS Printed or Sold by Will. Leak at the signe of the Crown in Fleet-street between the two Temple Gates These Bookes following MAn became guilty or the corruption of nature by sin written in French by Iohn Francis Senault and englished by Henry Earl of Monmouth Yorks Heraldry Bible of a very faire large Roman letter quarto Orlando Furioso Callis learned Readings on the statute 23. of Henry 8. Chap. the 5th of Sewers Perkins on the Lawes of England The persons Law Topicks in the Lawes of England Wilkinsons Office of Sheriffs Vade mecum of a Justice of Peace The Book of Fees Sken de significatione verborum Delamans Vse of the Horizontall Qurdrant Mathematicall Recreations Wilbyes second set of Musick 3.4.5 6. parts Corderius in english by Brinsley The Fort Royall of the Scriptures or a Vade mecum concordance presenting to the world one hundred heads of Scriptures most of them common placed for publike use Dr. Fulkes Meteors Malthus Fier-workes Nies Gumery and Fire-workes Cato Major with Annotations by Wil. Austin Esq Mell Helliconium by Alexder Rosse Nosce te ipsum by Sir Iohn Davis Annimadversions on Lillis Grammer The History of Vienna Paris The Spanish Mandevile of Miracles Lazarillo de Tormes Christ passion with Annorat by George Sands Hero and Leander by Christopher Marlow and George Chapman Aicilla or Philotas loving folly Epigrams Divine and Morrall by Sir Thomas Vrchard Mayers Catechism 80. A direction or discovery of an notable fraud committed by R. B. a seminary Priest of Rome upon two of the Articles of the Church of England Eccersitatio Scolastica 80 Perkins young mans guide to godlinesse Millitary instructions 80. The old Religion by Ios Hall Playes Henry the fourth Philaster Maides Tradgedy King and no King The grateful Servant The strange discovery The Hollander Othello the more of Venice