Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	old_a	young_a	zeal_n	39	3	7.5534	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A63812	A treatise of dreams & visions wherein the causes, natures, and uses, of nocturnal representations, and the communications both of good and evil angels, as also departed souls, to mankind. Are theosophically unfolded; that is according to the Word of God, and the harmony of created beings. To which is added, a discourse of the causes, natures, and cure of phrensie, madness or distraction. By Tho. Tryon, student in physick.	Tryon, Thomas, 1634-1703.	1689 (1689)	Wing T3197A; ESTC R221812	87,971	320

of good Spirits Angels in Dreams and Visions to pious and holy men in times past instructing and admonishing them and revealing divine mysteries unto them the same will be of little advantage or incouragement to us if that vulgar opinion be true that although they were so usual and frequent in former Ages yet now they are wholely ceased and no such spiritual assistances or converse to be expected but as this opinion is not founded on holy Scripture so there are divers reasons which sway with me not to imbrace the same its true the Text saith That if an Angel from Heaven shall preach any other Doctrine that is contrary or derogatory unto the Gospel of Jesus Christ he ought to be rejected and accursed for thereby it would plainly appear that he was an evil Angel since God in any of his manifestations is never contrary unto himself yet this hinders not but good Spirits may afford us good Offices and give us notice of impending Dangers and defend us from the assaults and incurrances of evil Doemons and be the Ministers of God whereby he may be pleased to make more clearer revelations of his Secrets to those that fear him for the blessed Creator is the same as ever he was and as near unto mankind as he was in former Ages whence the Apostle Paul saith the divine Word or holy Principle of Gods eternal Light and Love is near thee in thy Mouth and in the Center of thy Heart and therefore whatsoever was by divine appointment or permission of this nature common to the Prophets and holy men in former Ages its reasonable to believe that the same should not only be continued in these later times but increased and far more illustrated since the great work of redemption and divine manifestation in the flesh who was welcomed unto the humane nature by the holy Quires of Angles It s under this Gospel dispensation that the holy Prophets have foretold should be far more glorious irradications and discoveries of divine knowledge that all should be taught of God. That their Sons and their Daughters should Prophecy their young Men see Visions and their old Men dream Dreams The current of the Scripture bears Testimony to a greater Light to break forth in the latter dayes wherein the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the Earth as the Water cover the Sea and why then should we abridg or reject any of those ways wherein God hath formerly vouchsafed most usually to discover his will in the mysteries of his Kingdom to the Sons of men The good Spirits are inflamed with the same Zeal for spreading the Glory of their Creator now as in former times they have still the same ardent Charity and Good-will towards men that persue and seek after Vertue and Piety as heretofore and we have as much need of their aid and assistance as any of the Ancients why then should we think all entercourse out off between us and those blessed Spirits why should we with a stupid neglect lose the benefit of such powerful Auxiliaries That evil Angels are dayly contriving our temporal and eternal ruin that they do by various ways and means cast stumbling blocks before us in the Paths of 〈◊〉 and endeavour to seduce us by multitudes of temptations is generally agreed by all professors of the Christian Religion and if so I desire to know why we should not believe the good Angels to be as diligent to protect or instruct us as ready to encounrage us in well doing as the other are busie to circumvent and debauch us and prompt us on to sin and mischiefs and misery It s evident the ever blessed Creator has since the woful fall and degeneration of mankind readily heard the prayers of those that in sincerity have called upon his Name and live in obedience to his holy Law and that he hath in various manners appeared to them in Visions Calls Voyces Dreams and the like which was continued and encreased in an extraordinary manner after the great Light appeared viz. Christ Jesus cloathed with the humane nature as appears by the authority of the Scriptures before mentioned and if the same be now discontinued as some people would have us believe of which as there is no mention in Scripture so 't is against the Principles of God in nature to suppose any such Chasm or interruption of communication between superiours and inferiours in the state of created beeings and beside what a miserable and deplorable state must man then now be in for amongst the Ancients if the Spirits of the Lord did withdraw and cease from communicating and manifesting the secrets of the great Creator by some of the forementioned wayes they looked on themselves in a sad and deplorable condition as we may see in the case of Saul and others Whereas now according to these opinions we are not only debarred of all those celestial interviens and communications but also exposed to all the rage and subtilty of evil Spirits without any assistance from the good Angels which our Fore-fathers so plentifully enjoyed But the Truth is if we by vertuous lives prepare and fit our selves for the converse of holy Angels we have no more reason to dispair of their aid for the Lord doth never with-draw his holy Spirit from man except man do first by sin and disobedience separate himself from his Maker but on the contrary the divine Principle of love doth continually strive with man against the evil as our Saviour said I would have gathered you even as a Hen gathereth her Chickins under her Wings and in another place I came to seek 〈…〉 save that which was lost And elsewhere the Scripture saith As many as received the glorious Light of his Gospel became the sons of God or of Light and the great Apostle Paul who was illuminated by divine Vision saith Whatsoever may or can be known of God is implanted and manifested in man. For God made him in his own Image that is containing a breviate of the nature of all things divine and humane which is since his fall enlightened or again re-invested with the divine Seed of the woman and holy Principle of Light even to the Center of his Soul which the wise Man calls the voice of Wisdom always crying in the Gate of the microcosmical City calling man out of Sin and the Babyloni●al confusion into the glorious Light and Liberty of the Sons of God in which state the inward eye of divine sight is opened which sees into the secret mysteries of Gods ●●ture But some will say that these divine sights and visions like miracles were only to ●llustrate and confirm the Gospel or glorious manifestation of Christ in the human nature and to convince and call the Heathen to repentance and to the knowledge and saith of the universal Salvation But to this I answer First The Objection is not true for as these secret Communications were before under the Mosaical Dispensation so in fact they have been

the bed then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction Job 33. 14 15 16. And as those Dreams and Visions are sometimes matter of joy and comfort so at other times they are terrible and frightful and therefore the same pious Author complains Iob. 7. 14. When I say my bed shall comfort me my couch shall ease me then thou scarest me with Dr●ams and terrifiest me through Visions 'T is the duty of the Prophets and Servants of God to have a due regard to their Dreams and though some pretended Dreams when they had none or made use of them to seduce the People to Idolatry yet still the true Prophets were not to slight Visions and Dreams because of Idolatrous Impostures and such as were guilty of the latter were by Mose's Law to be put to death Deut. 8. 1. If there arise amongst you a Prophet or a Dreamer of Dreams and giveth thee a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder came to pass whereof he speakes unto thee saying Let us go after other Gods and let us serve them thou shall not hearken unto the voice of that Prophet or that Dreamer of Dreams for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you Love the Lord your God with all your Heart and with all your Soul And that Prophet or that Dreamer of Dreams shall be put to Death So the Prophet Zachariah chap. 10. 2. complains The Idols have spoken Vanity and the Diviners have spoken a Lye and have told false Dreams they comfort in vain And so Ieremiah chap. 23. 25. I have heard what the Prophet said that Prophecy lyes in my Name saying I have Dreamed I have Dreamed How long shall this be in the Heart of the Pr●phets that Prophecy Lyes Yea they are Prophets of the deceit of their own hearts which think to cause my People to forget my Name by their Dreams which they tell every man to his Neighbour as their Fathers have forgot my Name for Baal All these Texts against the Abuse of Dreams when they are forged wickedly made use of to promote Idolatry but make nothing against the lawful humble pious and most profitable use of Dreams as appears by what follows in the 28 th verse of the same chapter viz. The Prophet thou hath a 〈◊〉 let him tell the Dream and 〈…〉 hath my Word let 〈…〉 faithfully what is 〈…〉 Wheat saith the Lord The knowledge 〈…〉 and Dreams is reckon● 〈…〉 principal Gifts and Graces 〈◊〉 bestowed by the Lord on them that fear him So 't is said of Daniel and his three Companions That God gave them knowledge and skill in all Learning and Wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all Visions and Dreams Dan. 1. 1● And therefore when King Nebuchadnezzar had Dreamed Dreams and his spirit was troubled because the thing was gone from him that is he had forgot what he had seen but only retain'd a general remembrance that he had a strange and wonderful Dream when all the Magicians and Astrologers and Sorcerers and Chaldeans were so far from being able to recall his Dream that they told him There was not a man upon the Earth could do it This holy Prophet Daniel not only shewed the King the Dream but also the Interpretation thereof the same being revealed unto him in a Night Vision Dan. 2. 19. whereupon he acquaints the King that there is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the Latter dayes As for thee O King thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy Bed what should came to pass hereafter and he that revealeth secrets maketh known unto thee what shall come to pass and so proceeds to tell him the particulars of his Dream and the meaning thereof being a Declaration of the most eminent Empires and Monarchies that should succeed in the Earth and their Qualities Splendor and Conditions The same King Nebuchadnezzar was premonished in a Dream of the Judgement that was coming upon him for his presumption and forgetfulness of God he was driven out of his Kingdom and from amongst men and did eat Grass with Oxen c. Also in the 7th of Daniel we read how the Lord by his Angel shewed that holy Prophet the things that should come to pass in the world in the Latter days Nor was this Method of God's whereby he revealed his secrets by Dreams peculiar to the legal Dispensation but seems more especially to be extended unto and enlarged under the Gospel according to that prophesie of Ioel chap. 2. 28. And afterwards saith the Lord I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and my Sons and my Daughters shall Prophecy your young men shall see Visions and your old men shall dream Dreams which is repeated and applied to the Illumination of the holy spirit by the Apostle Peter Acts 2. 17. So in the new Testament we read That when Ioseph thought to put away the Virgin Mary whom he had espoused because he perceived her to be with Child The Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a Dream saying Joseph thou son of David fear not to take Mary to thy Wife for that which is conceived in her is of the holy Ghost and she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt ●all his Name Iesus for he shall save his people from their Sins Mat. 1. 20. And in the second Chapter when the wise men came out of the East to visit him that was born King of the Iews and were sent by Herod to Bethlem bidding them when they had found him to bring him word that he also might worship him they were warned of God in a Dream that they should not go again to him and therefore returned into their own Country another way After whose departure vers 13. Behold the Angel of the Lord appeared again unto Joseph in a Dream saying Arise and take the Babe and his Mother and flee into Egypt and be thou there till I bring thee word for Herod will seek the Babe to destroy him And in the same Chapter vers 19. When Herod was dead behold an Angel of the Lord once more appeared to Joseph in Egypt saying Arise and take the Babe and his Mother and go into the Land of ●srael for they are dead that sought the Child's Life CHAP. IX Of Angels Guardian of Countries and particular Persons and their Offices towards men mentioned in Scripture BY the numerous Examples mentioned in the foregoing Chapter we see how common and frequent it was in former Ages for the Lord to appear unto his people in nightly Visions and by Dreams and in that secret way of Comunication to reveal unto them many wonderful things insomuch that they did account themselves as it were abandoned or separated from the presence of the Lord and his holy Spirits and Angels when the Lord did with● draw or supercede this method of Nocturnal Illuminations as is evident by the forementioned Complaint of King Saul

with a strong desire of revealing something that lies hid or to manifest their affections to their surviving F●●end● and these sometim●s do ●t by assuming an aireal Body and appe●●ing A●●ections being the chief general Cause of Apparitions of S●uls departed But then the will and desire must be very strong and powerful at the departure of the Soul from the Body or else it cannot cloath it self with a ●idereal or Elemental thin Body for the External Eye cannot see any thing but what is like is self or compounded of them same Elements and there is great difficulty for any Soul to cloath it self with a material Body neither indeed can it be done if the Affections and desires be not wonderful strong and powerful W●ich shadow or thin Body continues no longer than the Radical moisture in the deceased Body does in some degree continue for as the moisture and matter of the Body does waste so the Apparition or Ghost does grow weak and at last vanish For the Soul cloathed it self by the help of the matter contained in the Body which is done by a sympathitical Operation between the External and Internal for there is some likeness or Relikes of the Spirit remaining in the deceased Body so long as it continues moist and full of matter for if it were not so it were impossible that any Soul should appear in any Body or shape either humane or Beastial Therefore it was that some of the Philosophical Antients commanded the Bodies of the dead to be burnt to Ashes which did totally destroy the Humour Radicalis or Spirit of the external elemental Nature thereby perventing such Apparitions as we are speaking of and hindering Souls from Cloathing themselves with thin Aireal Bodies which they can do only by a Sympathetical agreement between themselves and their old Houses the deceased Bodies For if the Soul departs from the Body filld with Affections to external things be they what they will then finding it discomposed and disquieted it longs after its old Body or House and by Simile and help of the Fluid Humours and Spirits yet remaining in the Body it attracts a subtle matter in which having vested it self it becomes to outward view Corporeal But if the Body should be consumed by Fire then the Spirit or Soul would be prevented wholly of matter for this sidereal Cloathing And therefore this way of burning the dead ●odies was practised as in divers other Nations so also in England in former Ages for then it was more frequent for departed Souls as also for divers other sorts of Spirits to appear to the living than of late years for some Reasons which I shall not stand to insist upon or explain in this place And therefore they did consume their dead Bodies with Fire by which there was an immediate and full Separation between the Body and Soul and no simile remain'd and consequently no matter could be attracted or coagulated for the formation of such Spectre's or Apparitions For the like Reason we may note by the way that the first Midwives and Directors of Women after Delivery ordered the After-Birth with Consumption by Fire to put a period to the Atomes or subtle Spirits that can and do powerfully penetrate all Bodies for they are so subtle and quick that nothing can hold or hinder them from returning to their Centers but only the Annilation of the whole But it is further to be observed That all Midwives ought to let the After-Burthen be through cold before they burn it or else the fierce surprisal which the Fire makes upon the Spirits will force them back to their Center whence they proceed with a Rapid motion and carry with them the hot sulpherous Atomes and Particles of the Fire which in some Complections will wound the Health and oft-times cause Fevers and unnatural Heats and Indispositions and more heat the Milk by simile These things are seldom considered and therefore the Evils thereof are the ofter felt But to return from this Digression wherein we thought it not unfit to point out briefly the Nature Causes and Manner of Souls appearing after Death which sometimes happens where the affections are exceeding violent as aforesaid it is far easier and more familiar for the deceased Souls to communicate their secrets to their living Friends in Dreams then to appear thus in external Forms by cloathing themselves with thin Elemental Bodies for men in Dreams are nearer unto the condition of departed Souls then when awake and therefore they can with ease and great familiarity discourse and reveal their minds unto them more especially if there were a simile between their spirits or if there was a hearty Love and Affection whilst they lived For all the time the Body sleepeth it is as it were dead and ten hours is but as one minute but the spirit and soul liveth and acteth and seeth and apprehendeth things as if it had not any earthly Body but were already in Eternity for near and afar off is all a like unto it it can as easily visit remote Countries and Regions beyond the Equinoctial or Tropicks as a mans own House or Garden it can sink it self into the deepest of Depths and also sore aloft and range through all the Coelestial sphears the Etherial Spirits of men being thus volatile and busie when the outward body or senses are dead or which is all one for the time asleep the Immaterial Beeings or seperated Souls being of an homogenial Nature and like state can easily hold communication therewith by such means as are proper for the intercourse of such spirituous Essences especially if before the Death of the Body there was something strongly impressed on the Spirit of the deceased which proves very burthensome until they have by some means revealed it to those to whom they had a desire to impart it before their Death but by some accident were prevented or where there is some great sympathy or similitude between the Soul of the deceased and the Living and for this last reason the Souls of strangers some●imes do make application to such sympathizing Souls of the Living whilst the Body lies asleep and reveal great secrets or ●oretel them of things some●imes good and sometimes evil that are likely to be●al them But there is such a vast disproportion between the Incorporeal Beeings viz. Souls departed Spirits and Angels on the one side and our outward material Senses and Reason on the other as makes all these Wonderful mysteries that happen to man of this Nature appear but as meer fantasies shadows or Vanity and therefore this secret spiritual converse and real Communications of Souls are derided in the highest degree which unbelief and contempt doth drive away and cause a seperation of the Souls of the deceased as also of all good Spirits and Angels which otherwise would be more prompt and ready to such Communications as being forward to serve help and enlighten those that are sober and we●l-minded and such as believe and are