Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	feel_v	foot_n	great_a	47	3	2.1572	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51724	Il Davide perseguitato David persecuted / vvritten in Italian by the Marquesse Virgilio Malvezzi ; and done into English by Robert Ashley, Gent.	Malvezzi, Virgilio, marchese, 1595-1653.; Ashley, Robert, 1565-1641.; Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650.	1650 (1650)	Wing M358; ESTC R37618	56,199	263

pleased in him LOe here a means how one may lose his inward familiarity with a Prince and get not his favour The conspiracy of great ones where they beare great sway undoubtedly either doth ruine the favorite or trouble the state whensoever hee that is greatest with the Prince is not the greatest among them In such a case men would not bee ashamed to bow unto him to whom though hee were not the favorite he ought to bow and there would be opened unto them a cleere way without any dirty flattery or thorny danger to run a happy course betweene obsequiousnesse and odious liberty but this seldome or never happens whether by the cunning of Princes or by nature I know not This Art teacheth them that the greatest in the state may not be called into inward favour without danger of dominion from which hee is but one pace distant Nature teacheth to lift up the lowly and to beat down the mighty and this nature is dictated of God who raiseth the poore from the dunghill to place him among Princes even with the Princes of his people It is signified by the starres whose radiation is thē thought to be great powerfull and glorious which lifting men from low estate doth seat them with Princes It is finally manifested in the earth whiles it favourably cherisheth and raiseth up those plants that are not wrapt in gold that is resplendent but buried in the basenesse of the soile that is uncleane What instruction may then be givē to favorites for eschewing the hatred of great ones The wittiest politician seems to commend such a subject as contenting himselfe to bee the greatest of the great ones in authority about the Princes cared not to exceed the meaner ones in dignity I take this to bee want of knowledge how to make ones best benefit of the fortunes that befall one or rather an abusing of them and that it is no way sufficient to extirpate envy which is rooted in favour and not in honour How many have beene seene to lose their favours with the Prince retaining still their dignity and of objects of envy to become the objects of compassion He that thinkes riches and honours are envied is deceived It is the command the applause and obsequiousnesse that they bring with them if these were separated from the King it were no desirable thing to be a King A very small reverence and a very little place is sufficient to satisfie what our bodies require but the whole world is not enough to quench the thirst of the minde which stands also with reason because the body may easily finde his object in a bodily world But the minde which is a spirit never findes it where there is no spirit It deceives it selfe sometimes in running with the body after some bodily thing as toward a proper object but no sooner is the same obtained but the errour is discovered Those pleasing tastes which some altogether sensuall doe account but as smoake which are the obsequiousnes the reverences the applauses these are the greatest food to the minde because these are the least corporeall There are a thousand other precepts written for favourites both to defend them from the hatred of the great and from every other occasion that might worke their overthrow Some also I could adde which are not mentioned by others but because they are all vaine and frivolous I will not fill up the page with such vanities and weaknesses I will say one only thing being the truest and securest course to maintaine himselfe in the Princes favour which may well be performed and may well be spoken of yet can it not be learnd nor taught which is to preserve alwaies the love of the Prince and the manner how to preserve it It is true that the favourite never falls without some cause but the same causes have not alway the same effects for sometimes they are surmounted by an affection greater than their owne if this stands firme and sure there can bee no danger if this shrinkes then the ruine is at hand not because he falls without cause but because 't is impossible not to give some cause and then the lesser have more force than at another time the greater would A constellation which would scarce have caused a simple ter●ian in youth by consent of those that write these vanities in Astrology is sufficient to kill one in his decrepit age He that would not have his love decline let him hold both his eyes alwayes fixed upon the Prince never depart from him never seeke any other but him for as soone as he turnes his eyes to himselfe or others he is undone His greatnesse his affections his pleasures and delights must be in his Prince Neither let him thinke that by this meanes hee may misse of preferments but rather that hee shall bee sure of them and peradventure with lesse envy Hee that possesseth things that are subject to envy and takes no delight in them is rather to be pittied than envied But who is he that will doe so saving the man that is full of affection and most tenderly enamoured of his Lord It is a thing that cannot bee reduccd into Art though it bee easily knowne Affectation differs much from affection which if hee hath not let him not imitate for such imitations are odious in the schoole of love they that will maintaine themselves in the Princes favour with Art their Art failes them and they then faile with their Art David departs from the army and returnes with his men to Ziklag whereby they finde that the Amalekites have burnt the City and carried away all the inhabitants prisoners with Davids wives also and the people therewith enraged would have stoned him IT is no marvell that this multitude would have stoned innocent David men being angry seeke some subject on which they may discharge their passion yet if they finde not those that offend them they suppose whomsoever they meet to be the same yea and sometimes when there appeares before them no other on which they may revenge themselves they beat the pavement with their feet and the walls with their fists And this is no such folly as many doe imagine but an instinct of nature which feeling the heart suffocated by so great a quantity of fiery spirits seekes to ease her selfe by diverting some part of them in the exercising of some action The passions of the people are too distemperate going alwayes to extremes which is not proper to the people as they are a people but as they are a multitude in which every one hath his particular passion and participateth also with that of the others and with that participation increaseth his owne I have sometimes doubted but I say it is not a thing undoubted that in this increasing the contracting at least of the spirits hath some part considering that a multitude of people gathered together findes nothing to stay it from going whither it may goe without separating and whither

Samuel when he saith How long wilt thou mourne for Saul God could not if one may say so endure his lamenting and not hearken to his suit These are those waters which in a manner offer violence to Heaven The Spirit of God moveth upon such waters and they make a river of oblivion in Paradise The tears which are shed the prayers which are said and the supplications which are sent up to God for others are as acceptable to God and more peradventure than if they were made for themselves They are esteemed of more merit at least in regard of the moralitie of the action Why th●● doe some Princes perswade themselves that they satisfie the obligatios wherein they are obliged to some one when they yeeld him his suit which hee hath made for another Or to say more truly why doe some favourites beleeve that there is such an impiety in their Princes Let them call to minde that the office of a favourite is the office of an Angell and ought therefore to present the suits and supplications of the subjects to their Lord and to bring backe the gracious grants of the Lord unto the subjects he that doth the contrary is a Divell and no Angell Fill thy horne with oyle saith God to the Prophet and goe to Ishai the Bethleemite for amongst his sonnes I have provided mee a King Hee answers How can I goe for if Saul heare of it he will kill me THus he answereth not because he feareth death but because hee is desirous to doe service unto God he much prizes his life in that case wherein to die is not to obey Hence let those that are imployed by their Princes learne that the death of the servant is seldome the service of the Lord It ought indeed to bee received couragiously but never to bee encountred but when it is very usefull and when the dying is an obeying A man of worth is a high prized instrument of the greatnesse of his Prince if hee cares not to preserve himselfe for his owne sake yet hee ought to be careful of preservation for his Lord and Masters sake Every man that is fitted to die is not fit to doe service It is true also what I have said even in the common Souldier whose life rather than his brain is dedicated to the Princes service that he ought also to endevour to obey and not to die Hee that runnes headlong on death doth not spend his life to the advantage but casts it away to the losse of his Lord his service is to overcome and not to die and indeed they lose that are slaine To expose needlesly to death that body which can doe service to its Prince but whiles it lives is a most pernicious desire of vaine glory contrary to good policy against good military discipline and an affection full of deceit and flattery into which even the Generals whose life is most pretious doe often precipitate themselves as if it were a greater bravery to fight than to command But that Army is but in a bad taking pardon me this digression whose safety consisteth in the arme not in the braine of the Generall To know how to command well in warre is a part of the imaginative faculty The imagination to worke well requireth a good measure of heat whose contrary is feare which how little so ever it bee the other abates and how little so ever that abates the imagination is disturbed whence it comes to passe that to bee afraid and to command well cannot stand together But how many are there that incited more by Honour than by Courage do both fight and feare these may handle the sword well but yet not apt for command The heating of the braine is not in our owne power as is the managing of the hands wee have no command over that howsoever 〈…〉 dominion we have over 〈…〉 for otherwise 〈…〉 not blame 〈…〉 nature necessarily in us Thence it followes that there is no greater or surer signe of a brave courage than to command well in a battell where both Reputation and life yea and many times the State it selfe comes upon the stage The Lord willeth Samuel to take him a calfe out of the flock and to say that hee is come to doe sacrifice BEcause God could succour him by ordinarie meanes hee would not have recourse to extraordinary If hee should alwayes bee doing of miracles men would not thinke his Providence so great in creating the second causes and if hee never used miracles hee should not perhaps be knowne to bee Almightie Where God worketh many miracles there is commonly great need of them and where there is such need there is but little faith When hee is not knowne by his Impression stamp or Image which hee hath imprinted in the things by him created then he findeth it requisite to make himselfe seene in the workes of his Omnipotencie Samuel obeyeth the Lord goeth and calleth Ishai and his sonnes to the sacrifice and looking on Eliab supposeth him to bee the man whom hee should annoynt because hee is the tallest and the goodliest of person Had the Prophet beene of the opinion of those Philosophers who have censured men of great stature to bee void of wisdome hee would not at the first sight so much have respected the talnesse of stature I for my part am not of that opinion but doe hold it to bee most false IF those Philosophers beleeved the neerenesse of the braine to the stomack doth trouble the operations of the understanding and if they have also imagined to themselves that the vitall spirits which ascend from the heart may bee made animall spirits for the service and operation of the Braine are unapt for such effect unlesse they bee first somewhat cooled because of the incompatibilitie of wisedome with heat wherefore have they not also affirmed the taller sort of men to be wiser than the little as having their Braine farther distant from the perturbations of the stomack and their spirits not so hot by reason of their long way and larger distance from their Originall Peradventure they are deceived in that they beleeve that men are alwayes great by the forming Power through the superabundance of matter not observing that many times there concurreth with it as a principall Instrument the Quantitie of heat as it is commonly verified in those whose talnesse is accompanied with slendernesse It hath therefore been noted as a true observation that the tall men that have little heads and the little men which have great have more Braine than the rest which commeth to passe not as many have thought because the little head in the great body and the great in the little maketh a mediocrity in the ordinarie stature of men which is false if wee measure the mediocritie of the part in respect of the whole of which it is a part But because the little head in a great man is a signe that the extension did proceed of heat and by consequence that the

eyes to admire that celestiall Beautie where we finde it best imprinted among us and is often termed Gratia divisata which consisteth neither in the symmetrie of the Humours nor the Proportion of the Lineaments albeit it oftentimes accordeth and agreeth well with them both when it is not hindered by any defect in the matter and so sometimes but not alwaies the fairest bee the best beloved Hence we may learne the reason of the little correspondence and the much mutability in Love It is not alwayes counterchanged for if the greater Beauty be beloved that which is beloved will not love that which loveth it It is changed as oft as there is represented to us greater beauty than which wee love Yet it is not sufficient that it be represented unto us if wee doe not reflect upon with a desire and therefore many leave not their first love because they permit not any new object of love to enter into their mind Saul suffereth not David to returne home but setteth him over his Armie hee is very gracious in the eyes of the people and particularly of the servants of the King THe subject that is growne great diminisheth the glory of his Master 〈…〉 shall a Prince take then 〈◊〉 but of slender worth If hee take not worthy men to 〈◊〉 how will he governe his Kingdome If hee take such how will hee be a King Hee is not King over others that hath in his Palace a greater man than himselfe If his stare be unsettled he loseth his state if the state be safe his reputation With great reason men might complaine of Nature if they were not for the most part commanded by the better He that holds the Scepter is not the King hee is but the servant of his Minister who obeyeth him Crownes come by Inheritance t is true but not the faculties of ruling If fortune give those to whom shee pleaseth Nature disposeth the other to him that deserves That Proposition of the Philosophers is most true that some are bound to Command and others to obey This is confirmed by him that divided the signes of the Zodiack into commanding and obeying signes This truth is not overthrowne by seeing him to hold a Scepter that was borne fitter for the mattock though hee play the King he is not a King David commeth to Ierusalem with the Head of the Giant the women meet him rejoycing and ascribe more to him in their singing than to Saul who is displeased thereat SHort and unhappie are the favours of the People short for like the floating of the sea it is tost with every winde a Sea that in the same haven wherein one time it hath secured ships another sinkes them Unhappie are they because it is as a violent starre whose radiall beames may be good but not lucky it never raiseth any but to make their down-falls the greater unhappie love because it hath for a Correlative the Princes hatred The Prince is not Lord of that people that loveth another better than him If he be Master of their bodies and meanes the other is Master over their Hearts and minds But good God! how shall a man behave himselfe must a mans valour needs become his infelicitie A wise man may indeed not desire applause but hee cannot hinder it except he leave those qualities for which he is applauded or depart from them that applaud him Ought hee then to forgoe the Talents which God hath bestowed on him or employ them only among wild beasts in the horrid wildernesses or in solitary places The eminent vertue of men if it be not the cause of their Death is so of their Banishment At the first they are sought to out of necessitie and then againe they are expelled under colour of necessitie The Tree that was esteemed for its shadow to shelter us from the heat of the summer is afterwards cut downe to defend us from the cold of the winter The same man whom Princes embraced in the heat of their necessity is he whom they cut downe in the cold of their jelousie Saul since that never looked aright on David NAture teacheth when wee looke on our enemie to give a violent Metum to our aspect whether by staring fiercely or looking askew upon him to strike him with our very spirits and with the greatest quantity and worst quality that may be He that thinks them not to issue out of the eyes and that they proceed not to touch the object when it is neere them is deceived and hee that beleeves it will not deny that they have their operation on that subject If the only diversitie of the aspect make the selfe same radiation of the starre to be sometimes gratious and sometimes deadly why should not the eyes being the starres of this little world have power to diversifie their effects according to the diversitie of their aspects It was not long ere the Devill assaulted Saul againe and when David plaied and sung to deliver him from the oppression of the spirits hee with a speare in his hand would have slaine him but David avoided the blow and departed THat Tyrant is put to a shrewd pinch that is growne jelous of a subject of worth and reputation If hee kill him hee feares the rising of the people If he suffer him hee doubts his raysing of them Now hee accounts himselfe happy if in his oppressing him hee could make the faults of his will to be laid upon the ignorance of his understanding and with the imputation of a mad-man smother that of an ungratefull A most wicked peece of Policie to make our greatest defects the best instruments of our Government There hath beene one that made use of drunkennesse to secure himselfe of the most valorous man of his Armie and Saul doth the like by his vexation with spirits to make David away Such colourable carriages doe move the ignorant rout to compassion rather than to rebellion whiles they give place to Princes to bewaile the death of those whom themselves have slaine and to make them beleeve that their teares of joy are teares of lamentation Saul perceived that God was with David when hee could not slay him with the casting of his speare from which his valour could not defend him because hee did not expect it neither his wisedome because hee did not foresee it HEe that will know when God is with his enemie and this is a morall and not a naturall knowledge let him not consider the conquests made by his valour and by that which wee call Prudence but the helpes he receiveth from naturall inanimate things as Clouds winds fires snow ice raine and tempests for they as it is written fulfill the will of God What availeth our valour if God be not with us and what is our Prudence if God doe not governe it It is nothing I speake of politick Prudence for it is a good connexion of present things with the future and those that are past but of that which is past and which