Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	word_n	write_v	year_n	325	4	4.6574	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30463	Some letters, containing an account of what seemed most remarkable in Switzerland, Italy, some parts of Germany, &c. in the years 1685 and 1686 written by G. Burnet, D.D. to the Hoble. R.B. ; to which is added, An appendix, containing some remarks on Switzerland and Italy, writ by a person of quality, and communicated to the author ; together with a table of the contents of each letter.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1688 (1688)	Wing B5920; ESTC R21514	187,788	260

which he desires Bullingers Advice And in many Letters writ on that subject it is asserted that both Cranmer and Ridley intended to procure an Act for abolishing the Habits and that they only defended their Lawfulness but not their Fitness and therefore they blamed private Persons that refused to obey the Laws Grindal in a Letter dated the 27th of August 1566. writes That all the Bishops who had been beyond Sea had at their return dealt wi●h the Queen to let the matter of the Habits fall but she was so prepossessed that tho they had all endeavoured to divert her from prosecuting that matter she continued still inflexible This had made them resolve to submit to the Laws and to wait for a fit opportunity to rever●e them He laments the ill effects of the opposition that some had made to them which had extreamly irritated the Queens Spirit so that She was now much more heated in those matters than formerly he also thanks Bullinger for the Letter that he had writ justifying the Lawful use of the Habits which he says had done great service C●x Bishop of Ely in one of his Letters laments the a●ersion that they found in the Parliament to all the Prop●sitions that were made for the Reformation of Abuses Iewel in a Letter dated the 22th of May 1559. writes That the Queen refused to be called Head o● the Church and adds That that Title could not be justly given to any mortal it being due only to Christ and that such Titles had been so much abused by Antichrist that they ought not to be any longer continued On all these Passages I will make no reflections here For I set them down only to shew what was the sense of our Chief Church-men at that time concerning those matters which have since engaged us into such warm and angry Disputes and this may be no inconsiderable instruction to one that intends to write the History of that time The last particular with which I intend to end this Letter might seem a little too learned if I were writing to a less knowing Man than your self I have taken some pains in my travels to examin all the Antient Manus●ripts of the New Testament concerning that doubted pas●age of St. Iohns Epistle There are three that bear witness in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one Bullinger doubted much of it because he found it not in an antient Latin Manuscript at Zurich which seems to be about 800. years old For it is written in that hand that began to be used in Charles the Great 's time I turned the Manuscript and found the passage was not there but this was certainly the errour or omission of the Coppier For before the General Epistles in that Manuscript the Preface of St. Ierome is to be found in which he sayes that he was the more exact in that Translation that so he might discover the fraud of the Arrians who had struck out that passage concerning the Trinity This Preface is printed in Lira's Bible but how it came to be left out by Erasmus in his Edition of that Father's works it that of which I can give no account For as on the one hand Erasmus's sincerity ought not to be too rashly censured so on the other hand that Preface being in all the Manuscripts Antient or Modern of those Bibles that have the other Prefaces in them that I ever yet saw it is not easy to imagin what made Erasmus not to publish it and it is in the Manuscript Bibles at Basil where he printed his Edition of S. Ieromes Works In the old Manuscript Bible of Geneva that seems to be above 700. years old both the Prefa●e and the P●ssage are extant but with this difference from the common Editions that the common Editions ●et the Verse concerning the Father the Word and the Spirit before that of the Water the Blood and the Spirit which comes after it in this Copy And that I may in this place end all the Readings I found of this passage in my Travels there is a Manuscript in St. Mark 's Library in Venice in three Languages Greek Latin and Arabick that seems not above 400. years old in which this passage is not in the Greek but it is in the L●tin set after the other three with a sicut to joyn it to what goes before And in a Manuscript Latin Bible in the Library of St. Laurence at Florence both St. I●romes Preface and this Passage are extant but this Passage comes after the other and is pinned to it with a sicut as is that of Venice yet si●ut is not in the Geneva Manuscript There are two Greek Manuscripts of the Epistles at B●sil that seem to be about 500. years old in neither of which this passage is to be found they have also an Ancient Latin Bible which is about 800. years old in which tho St. Ierom's Prologue is inserted yet this Passage is wanting At Stras●●●rg I saw four very Ancient Manuscripts of the New Testament in Latin three of these seemed to be about the time of Charles the Great but the fourth seemed to be much antienter and may belong to the seventh Century in it neither the Prologue nor the Place is extant but it is added at the foot of the page with another hand In two of the other the Prologue is extant but the Place is no● only in one of them it is added on the Margin In the fourth as the Prologue is extant so is the Place likewise but it comes after the verse of the other three and is ●oyned to it thus Sicut tres sunt in coelo It seem'd strange to me and it is almost incredible that in the Vatican Library there are no Antient Latin Bibles where above all other places they ought to be lookt for but I saw none above 400. years old There i● indeed the famous Greek Manuscript of great value which the Chanoine Shelstrat that was Library keeper asserted to be 1400. years old and proved it by the great similitude of the Characters with those that are upon S. Hippolites Statue which is so evident that if his Statue was made about his time the antiquity of this Manuscript is not to be disputed If the Characters are not so fair and have not all the marks of Antiquity that appears in the Kings Manuscript at Iames's yet this has been much better preserved and is much more entire The Passage that has led me into this digression is not to be found in the Vati●an Manuscript no more than it is in the Kings Manuscript And with this I will finish my account of Zurich The publick Library is very noble The Hall in which it is placed is large and well contrived there is a very handsome Cabinet of Med●ls and so I will break off but when I have gone so much farther that I have gathered Materials for another Letter of this Volum you may look for a sec●n●

Hosty's not being carried about in Proc●ssion but secretly by the Priest to the Sick makes that this uneasy discrimination of Protesta●● and Papist doth not offer it self here as in other places for the straitness of the streets and the Channals through which one must go almost every foot makes that this could not be done in Venice as it is elsewhere and from Veni●e this Rule is carried over their whole Territory tho the like Reason doth not hold in the Terra Firma The Venetians are generally ignorant of the matters of Religion to ● scandal and they a●e as unconcerned in them as they are Strangers to them so that all that vast pomp in their Ceremonies and wealth in their Churches is affected rather as a point of Magnificence or a matter of Emulation among Families than that Superstition hath here such a power over the Spirits of the People as it hath elsewhere for the Athe●sm that is received by many here is the dullest and cou●sest thing that can be imagined The young Nobility are so generally corrupted in their Morals and so given up to a most supine Ignorance o● all sort of knowledge that a man cannot easily imagi● to what a height this is grown and for Military Co●rage there is scarce so much as the Ambition of being thought brave remaining among the greater part of them It seemed to me a strange thing to see the Bro●lio so full of graceful young Senators and Nobles when there was so glorious a War on foot with the Turks but instead of being heated in point of Honour to hazard t●●ir lives they rather think it an extravagant piece of Folly for them to go and hazard it when a little Money can hire Strangers that do it on such easie term● and thus their Arms are in the hands of strangers while they stay at home managing their In●rigues in the Broglio and dissolving their spirits among their Courtisans And the Reputation of their Service is of late years so mu●h sunk that it is very strange to see so many come to a service so decryed where there is so little care had of the Souldiers and so little regard had to the Officers the Arrea●s are so slowly pay'd and the Rewards are so scantly distributed that if they do not change their Maxims they may come to feel this very sensibly for as their Subjects are not acquainted with Warlike matters so their Nobili●y have no sort of Ambition that way and strangers are extreamly disgusted It is chiefly to the conjuncture of affairs ●hat ●hey owe their Safety for the Feebleness of all their Neighbours the Turk the Emperour the K●ng of Sp●in the P●pe and the Duke o● Mantua preserves them from the apprehension of an Invasion and the Quarrels and Degeneracy of their Subjects save th●m from the Fears of a Revolt but a formidable Neighbour would put them hard to it One great O●casion of the Deg●neracy of the Italians and in particular of the Venetian Nobility is a Maxim that hath been taken up for some considerable time that for the preservation of their Famili●● it is fit t●at only one of a Famil● should marry to which I will not add that it is generally believed that the Wife is in common to the whole Family By this means the younger Brothers that have Appointments for ●ife and that have no Families that come from them are not stirred up by any Ambition to signa●ize themselves or to make Families and so they give way to all the Laziness of Luxury and are quite enervated by it Whereas the best Services done in other State● flows from the Necessities as well as the Aspirings of younger Brothers or their Families whose blood qualifi●s them to pretend as well as their Pride and Necessities push them on to acquire first a Reputation and the● a Fortune But all this is a Mystery to the Venetians who apprehend so much from the active Spirits of a necessitou● Nobility that to lay those to sleep they incourage them in all those things that may blunt and depress the●● Minds and youth naturally hates Letters as much as it loves Pleasure when it is so far from being restrained that it is rather pushed on to all the Licentiousness of unlimitted Disorders Yet I must add one thing that tho Venice is the place in the whole World where pleasure is most studied and where the youth have both the greatest Wealth and the most leisure to pursue it yet it is the place that I ever saw where true and innocent Pleasure is the least understood in which I will make a little Digression that perhaps will not be unpleasant As for the Pleasure● of Friendship or Marriage they are Strangers to them for the horrible distrust in which they all live of one another makes that it is very rare to find a Friend in Italy but most of all in Venice and tho we have been told of several Stories of celebrated Friendships there yet these are now very rare As for their Wives they are bred to so much ignorance and they converse so little that they know nothing but the d●ll Superstition on Holy-dayes in which they stay in the Chur●hes as long as they can and so prolong the little Liberty they have of going abroad on those dayes as Children do their Hours of play They are not imployed in their Domestick Affairs and generally they understand no sort of Work so that I was told that they were the insipidest Creatures imaginable They are perhaps as vitious as in other places but it is among them downright Lewdnes● for they are not drawn into it by the intanglements of Amour that inveigle and lead many persons much farther than they imagined or intended at first but in them the first step without any preamble or preparative is downright beastliness And an Italian that knew the World well said upon this matter a very lively thing to me he said their jealousy made them restrain their Daughters and their Wives so much that they could have none of those Domestick Entertainm●nts of Wit Conversation and Friendship that the French or English have at home It is true those he said hazard a little the Honour of their Families by that Liberty but the Italians by their excessive Caution made that they had none of the true Delights of a Married Sta●e and notwithstanding all their uneasy jealousy they were still in danger of a contraband Nobility therefore he thought they would do much better to hazard a little when it would produce a certain satisfaction than to watch so anxiously and thereby have an insipid Companion inste●d of a lively Friend tho she might perhaps have some ill moments As for their houses they have nothing convenient at Venice for the Architecture is almost all the same one Stair-case a Hall that runs along the Body of the House and Chambers on both hands but there are no Apartments no Closet● or Backstairs so that in houses that are of an

Town but their numbers are not considerable I was told there were some ancient Manuscripts in the Library that belongeth to the Cathedral but one of the Prebendaries to whom I addressed my self being according to the German Custom a Man of greater Quality than Learning told me he heard they had some ancient Manusc●ipts but he knew nothing of it and the Dean was absent so I could not see them for he kept one of the Keys The lower Palatinate is certainly one of the sweetest Countryes of all Germany It is a great Plain till one cometh to the Hills of Heidelberg the Town is ill scituated just in a bottom between two ranges of Hills yet the Air is much commended I need say nothing of the Castle nor the prodigious Wine-Cellar in which tho there is but one celebrated Tun that is seventeen foot high and twenty six foot long and is built with a strength liker that of the ribs of a ship than the Staves of a Tun yet there are many other Tuns of such a prodigious bigness that they would seem very extraordinary if this vast one did not Eclipse them The late Prince Charles Lewis shewed his capacity in the peopling and setling this State that had been so intirely ruined being for many Y●ars the Seat of War for in four years time he brought it to a Flourishing condition He raised the Taxes as high as was possible without dispeopling his Country all mens Estates were valued and they were taxed at five per cent of the value of their Estates but their Estates were not valued to the rigour but with such abatements as have been ordinary in Engla●d in the times of Subsidies so that when his Son offered to bring the Taxes down to two per Cent of the real value the Subjects all desired him rather to continue them as they were There is no Prince in Germany that is more ab●o●●te than the Elector Pal●tine for he laye●h on his S●bject● what Taxes he pleaseth without being limited to any forms of Go●ernment And here I saw that which I had alwayes believed to be true that the Subjects of Germany are only bound to their particular Prince for they swear Allegeance singly to the Elector without any reserve for the Emp●rour and in their Prayers for him they name him their Soveraign It is true the Prince is under some ties to the Emperour but the Subjects are under none And by this D● Fabritius a learned and judicious Professor there explained those words of Pareus's Commentary on the Romans which had respect only to the Princes of the Empire and were quite misunderstood by those who fancied that they favoured Rebellion for there is no place in Europe where all rebellious Doctrine is more born down than there I found a great spirit of Moderation with relation to those small Controversies that have occasioned such heat in the Protestant Churches reigning in the University there which is in a great measure owing to the Prudence the Learning and the happy Temper of Mind of D. Fabritius and D. Mick who as they were long in England so they have that generous largness of Soul which is the Noble Ornament of many of the English Divines Prince Charls Lewis saw that Manheim was ma●ked out by Nature to be the most important place of all his Territory it being scituated in the point where the Neckar falleth into the Rhine so that those two Rivers defending it on two sides it was capable of a good Fortification It is true the Air is not thought wholsome and the Water is not good yet he made a fine Town there and a Noble Cittadel with a regular Fortification about it and he designed a great Palace there but he did not live to build it He saw of what advantage Liberty of Con●cience was to the peopling of his Country so as he suffered the Iews to come and settle there he resolved also not only to suffer the three Religions ●olerated by the Laws of the Empire to be professed there but he built a Church for them all three which he called the Church of the C●ncord in which both Calvinists Lutherans and Papists had in the order in which I have set them down the exercise of their Religion and he maintained the peace of his Principality so intirely that there was not the least Disorder occasioned by this Toleration This indeed made him to be lookt on as a Prince that did not much consider Religion himself He had a wonderful application to all affairs and was not only his own chief Minister but he alone did the work of many But I were Injust if I should not say somewhat to you of the Princely Vertues and the Cele●rated Probity of the present Pr. Elector upon whom that Dignity is devolved by the extinction of so many Pr●nces that in this Age composed the most numerous F●mily of any of that rank in Europe This Prince as he is in many respects an honour to the Relig●on that he professes so is in nothing more to be commended by those who dif●er from him than for his exact adhering to the Promises he made his Subjects with relation to their Religion in which he has not even in the smallest matters broke in upon their establisht Laws and tho an Order of Men that have turned the world up-side down have great credit with him yet it is hitherto visible that they cannot carry it so far as to make him do any thing contrary to the established Religion and to those ●acr●d Promises that he made his Subjects For he makes it appear to all the world that he does not consider those as so many words spoken at first to lay his people asleep which he may now explain and observe as he thinks sit but as so many Ties upon his Conscience and Honour which he will Religiously observe And as in the other parts of his Life he has set a Noble Pattern to all the Princes of Europe so his exactness to his Promises is that which cannot be too much commended of which this extraordinary Instan●e has been communicated to me since I am come into this Country The Elector had a Proc●ssion in his Court last Corpus Christ● day upon which one of the Ministers of Heidelberg prea●ht a very severe Sermon against Popery and in particular taxed that Procession perhaps with greater plainness than discretion Th●s being brought to the Electors Ears he sent presently an Order to the Ecclesiastical Senate to suspend him That Court is composed of some Secular men and some Churchmen and as the Princes Authority is delegated to them so they have a sort of an Episcopal jurisdiction over all the Clergy This Ord●r was a surprise to them as being a direct b●each upon their Laws and the li●erty of their Reli●ion so they sent a Depu●ation to Court to let the Elector know the reasons that hindred them from obeying his O●ders which were heard with so mu●h Justice and Gentleness that the Pri●ce