Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
scripture_n	great_a	holy_a	see_v	3,964	5	3.2444	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44824	Examen de ingenios, or, The tryal of wits discovering the great difference of wits among men, and what sort of learning suits best with each genius / published originally in Spanish by Doctor Juan Huartes ; and made English from the most correct edition by Mr. Bellamy.; Examen de ingenios. English	Huarte, Juan, 1529?-1588.; Bellamy, Mr. (Edward)	1698 (1698)	Wing H3205; ESTC R5885	263,860	544

and particular Assistance that God gave him for that purpose All that I pretend is to affirm that Supernatural Gifts are much more efficacious when they meet with a suitable Disposition than when they fall upon a Sot and a Blockhead To this alludes the Doctrin of St. Jerome in his Proem upon Esay and Jeremy demanding what is the reason that though it was the same Holy Spirit which spoke in both their Mouths Esay delivered what he Writ with so much Elegance and Jeremy hardly knew how to speak He answer'd that the Holy Spirit accommodates it self to the natural manner of Proceeding of each Prophet unless Grace changes their Nature or teaches them a new Language to deliver their Prophecies in You must know then that Esay was a Nobleman bred at Court and in the City of Jerusalem for which reason his Discourse was more Elegant and Polite but Jeremy was Born and brought up in a Village near Jerusalem call'd Anathoth so that in his Stile he was Course and Rude as a Peasant and such a Stile the Holy Ghost made use of in the Prophecy he Inspired him with The same may be said of St. Paul's Epistles that the Truth of the Holy Spirit presided in him when he writ them to the end that he might not Err but that the Language and Manner of Speech was no other than the Language and Manner of Speech natural to St. Paul accommodated to the Doctrin he taught because the Truth of School-Divinity abhors a multiplicity of Words The Knowledge of Tongues and the Ornaments and Politeness of Speech accord admirably with Positive-Divinity because that Faculty belongs to the Memory and is no other than a Mass of Catholic Sayings and Sentences cull'd out of the Holy Fathers and from Sacred Writ and treasured up in that Faculty in like manner as a Grammarian selects the fine Flowers of Virgil Horace Terence and other Latin Poets he reads and as occasion presents sets himself to deliver them or pertinently cites some Passages from Cicero or Quintilian to make show of his Reading to his Auditors They that are furnished with this Union of Imagination and Memory and diligently Collect whatever has been said and Writ that is considerable in the Science they profess and quote them at due time and place with the Ornaments of good Language as having already found in all the Sciences so many things appear very profound in the Opinion of those who are Ignorant of our Doctrin though in effect they are but superficial and will discover their defect as soon as they are sifted to the bottom of what they deliver with so much Assurance And the reason is that the Understanding to which appertains the Knowlege of the Truth of things from their Root is not agreeable with the abundance of fine Speeches 'T is of these the Holy Scripture speaks The talk of the lips tendeth to Penury Such as have these two Faculties the Imagination and Memory joined together boldly attempt the Interpretation of Holy Scriptures conceiting because they understand a great deal of Hebrew Greek and Latin it is easy for them to give the true Sense of the Letter but after all they are out First because the Words of Holy Scripture and its manner of speaking have many other Significations more than Cicero knew in his Tongue Secondly Because such People want Understanding which is the Faculty that discerns whether the Sense be Catholic or not 'T is this Faculty which with the Assistance of Supernatural Grace of two or three several Meanings drawn from one Text can make choice of that which is the Truest and most Catholic It never happens said Plato that Men are deceived in things that are very distinguishable so easily as when many of the like Nature present themselves together for if we set before the most clear-sighted Eyes in the World a little Salt Sugar Meal and Chalk all finely powder'd and sifted and each by it self what should he do who wanted his Taste to be able to distinguish upon sight each of these Powders without any mistake so as to point in particular which is Salt which Sugar which Meal and which Chalk Without doubt no Man but would be mistaken because of the great Affinity between these things But were there a heap of Wheat another of Oats another of Chaff another of Earth and another of Stones it is no less certain because of the great diversity of each Object this Man whose sight was not very good could never fail to name each heap We see the same happen every day in the Sense and Meaning the Divines give of the Holy Scripture for you may observe two or three which at first sight seem to be Catholic and to agree well with the Letter whereas in truth they are not such nor does the Holy Spirit say so To chuse the best of all the Meanings and reject that which is bad it is certain that the Divine makes use of neither Memory nor Imagination but of the Understanding only And accordingly I assert that the Positive-Divine ought to consult the Scholastic and desire him to chuse which of all the meanings he shall find best if he would not be sent some fair Morning to the Inquisition For which reason the Heresies are in such dread of School-Divinity and would have it absolutely rooted out of the World because by Distinguishing Inferring Reasoning and Judging the Truth at last comes to be distinguished from Falhood CHAP. XII That the Theory of Divinity belongs to the Understanding and Preaching which is the Practic to the Imagination 'T IS a Point much Controverted not only amongst the Wise and Learned but even such as has not escaped the very Vulgar who daily ask the Reason Whence it comes that a Divine who is a great Schoolman sharp in Dispute ready in his Answers Reads and Writes with admirable Learning nevertheless when he gets once into the Pulpit he knows not how to Preach and on the other hand when a Man is an Excellent Preacher Eloquent Acceptable drawing all the People after him it is a great Miracle if he knows much of School-Divinity And for this Reason it is not admitted as a good Consequence such a one is a good School-Divine therefore he is a very good Preacher neither on the other hand must it be concluded that such a one is a great Preacher therefore he is not a great School-man so that to destroy one and the other Consequence there are more Instances offered of each than there are Hairs in our Head No Man till now has been able to give any other Answer than that ordinarily returned which is to attribute all this to God and to the Distribution of his Gifts and I own it is very well done when they know not at least the particular Cause We have in a manner solv'd this doubt in the preceding Chapter though not so exactly as it ought For I have already said that School-Divinity pertained to the

Kingdom that the King should have a lawful Issue to Succeed him so it may well happen that a King marrying at random may light on a barren Wife that will keep him all his Life without hope of Issue and so dying without Heirs he bequeaths to his People Civil Wars for filling of a Vacant Throne But this Art says Hippocrates is not necessary but for Men of ill Constitutions and not for those that have the perfect Temperament we have described These need no special Choice of a Wife nor look for one that is proportionable to them for as Galen says whatever Wife they Marry they will not fail forthwith to have Children This is to be understood if the Woman be Sound and at the Age according to the Course of Nature that Women are wont to Conceive and bring forth In such sort as Fruitfulness is more to be desired by a King than any Artist whatsoever for the reasons we have given If the Nutritive Faculty be so voracious gluttonous and greedy of Drink Galen has told us that it proceeds from the Stomach and the Liver 's wanting the Temperament agreeable to their Operations Which makes Men Voluptuous Infirm and of very short Life But if these Parts possess their due Temper and Composition the same Galen says that they desire no more Meat nor Drink than is necessary to sustain Life Which quality is so important to a King that God declares that Land thrice happy that meets with such a Prince Blessed is the Land whose King is Noble and whose Princes feed in due time for Refreshment and not for Riotousness Of the Irascible Faculty if it be Intense or Remiss Galen pronounces it is an Indicatition that the Heart is not well composed and has not the Temperament required to act perfectly from which two Extreams the King ought to be further distant than any other Artist for to arm Passion with Power is a thing in no wise convenient for the Subjects Nor is it any better for the King to have that Irascible Faculty remiss because in slightly passing by things ill done and attempted in this Kingdom he comes to be Despised and lose the Reverence of his Subjects which ordinarily produces great Disorders in a State and remediless Mischiefs But the Man who is Temperate is moved when there is Reason and unmoved when there is None which quality is as necessary for a King as all the other we have spoke of How much it imports that the Rational Faculty the Imagination Memory and Understanding should be perfect in a King more than in any other is easily prov'd for the other Arts and Sciences as it should seem are to be acquired and practised by the force of Man's Wit but to govern a Kingdom and to conserve it in Peace and Concord not only requires that the King be endued with natural Prudence for it but it is also necessary that God particularly assist him with Understanding and Aid him in Governing the Sacred Scripture has noted no less where it says That the Heart of the King is in the Hand of God To live many Years also and enjoy continual Health is a property more convenient for a good King than any other Artist for his Care and Travel is laid out for the Public Good and if he fails to hold out in Health the Common-Wealth runs to Decay All this Doctrin which we have deliver'd will be better confirm'd if we find in any true History that at any time there has been any distinguishable Man chosen for King in whom were not wanting any of the Marks and qualifications we have mentioned For Truth has this Advantage that it never wants a Proof Holy Writ recounts that God being displeas'd with Saul for sparing Agag's life ordered Samuel to go to Bethlem and anoint for King of Israel one of the Eight Sons of Jesse Now the holy Man presuming that God would be pleased with Eliab because he was tall of Stature said Surely the Lord 's Anointed is before him But the Lord said to Samuel Look not on his Countenance or on the height of his Stature for I have refused him for this he had tryed before in Saul for the Lord sees not as Man seees for Man looketh on the outward Appearance but the Lord looketh on the Heart Samuel distrusting his own skill in choosing passed on further to what he had in Charge still enquiring of God of one and the other before him which he would please to have anointed King and God approving of none of them said he to Jesse it may be thou hast more Children than these that stand before us and Jesse said there remaineth yet the Youngest and behold he keepeth the Sheep but he is little of Stature imagining belike that that was no small matter in a King Samuel who had already learned by Experience that a great Stature was not always a good Presage sent for him And it is a thing worthy Observation what Sacred Scripture recounts e're yet he was anointed King Now he was Ruddy and withal of a Beautiful Countenance and goodly to look to and the Lord said Arise and anoint him for this is he So as David had the two first Marks we have laid down he was Ruddy well-Complectioned and of mean Stature That he was Virtuous and good Conditioned which is our third Sign is easie to be found seeing God said of him That he had found a Man after his own Heart For tho' he sometimes Sinned he lost neither the Name nor Habit of Virtuous no more than he that is Habitually Evil tho' he perform some good Moral Actions loses the Name of Lewd and Vitious That he liv'd in Health during the whole Course of his Life seems to be proved from this because throughout his whole Story there is no mention but of one only Infirmity which is an Indisposition attending them that live a long time it was that his natural Heat was extinguish'd and he could not be warm in his Bed to remedy which there was put to Bed to him a young Damsel to cherish him by which means he liv'd so many Years that the sacred Text says That he died in a good old Age full of Days Riches and Honour after having endured so many Travels and Wars and done so great Penance for his Sins And all this because he was Temperate and of good Constitution and avoided the Occasions that ordinarily breed Diseases and shorten Man's Life His great Wisdom and Knowledge were noted by Saul's Servant when he said Behold I have seen the Son of Jesse the Bethlemite that is cunning in playing and a mighty Valiant Man and a Man of War and prudent in Matters and a comely Man By which Signs above recited it is certain that David was a Temperate Man and that it is to such the Royal Scepter is due seeing he was adorn'd with the best Wit Nature could produce But here arises a great