Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	babylon_n	land_n	zion_n	47	3	9.2141	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52815	A philosophical and divine discourse blazoning upon this blazing star divided into three parts; the I. Treating on the product, form, colour, motion, scituation [sic], and signification of comets. II. Contains the prognosticks of comets in general, and of this in particular; together with a chronology of all the comets for the last 400 years. III. Consists of (1.) the explication of the grand concerns of this comet by astrological precepts and presidents. (2.) The application of its probable prognosticks astrologically and theologically. / By Christopher Nesse, minister of the gospel, in London, 1681.; Full and true account of the late blazing-star. Parts 1-3.	Ness, Christopher, 1621-1705.	1681 (1681)	Wing N460; ESTC R218855	20,329	25

produceth diversity of Forms in them yet mostly such as have Trains or Tails for the hinder part being not so compact as the former soonest taketh Fire and sputters out a Flame as we see in Squibs or Fuzzees like a long Besomor the Tail of a Peacock 2. Of their Colour which Distinction they derive from the Dominion of the Planet in their Generation which may easily be discerned by their various Colours Comets have their Dusky and Leaden Colour from Saturn Splendid from Jupiter Fiery from Mars Golden from the Sun Silver from the Moon Yellow from Venus and of changeable Colours from Mercury And all these various Colours are supposed to be various Indications of differing Natures as the Planets from whence they derive them do differ in their Natures and Influences one from another 3. Of their Motion Comets are of an Erratick Motion as the new Stars immitate the fixed Stars so do Comets immitate the Planets in their Motions Some are moved according to the Motion of the Primum Mobile to speak ex Hypothesi to wit from East to West but some slowlier fulfilling that Motion and others more swiftly exceeding it Their Motion is therefore called Erratick because it is not Regular and Certain as that of the fixed Stars is whose Rising and Setting are certainly known but the Motion of Comets is sometimes nearer and sometimes further off from the Zodiack as the Motion of the Planets is Yet not altogether as the Planets which never remove far from the Zodiack but have always certain and well known Bounds of their Motions whereas Comets have an Irregular Motion and as to the Zodiack plainly Eccentrick wandring far from it in their remote Appearances and though Motion from East to West be Regular yet this happens by Accident only because the Upper Region of the Air wherein Comets are both Engendred and Fired is whirl'd about with the Heavens hence the Comet therein wheels about with it 4. Of their Signification The principal thing intended to wit the Prognosticks of them 'T is true there be some who deny altogether their Significancy as Erastus Gryneus and others but 't is too too manifest that Comets are not mute things but that they are Signs which God placeth in Heaven to preach something to Men on Earth No Man in his right Mind can say that the most wise God doth make any thing in vain or that the Father of Lights should hang out such a strange and stupendious Light up aloft to be seen far and wide and this not to portend some extraordinary thing Consult Antiquity there is found 1. That Greek Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no Comet which brings not some Evil. 2. That Verse of Manilius Nunquam Futilibus Resplenduit Ignibus Aether God never Fires his Beacon set upon so high a Hill but those below had need look to themselves 3. That other Trite Verse which is a Synonymon Synbolizeth with the two former Et Nunquam Coelo Spectati Impune Cometae That is never doth the Earth ' scape Scot-free when Heaven holds forth a Blazing Star to her View This is confirmed by all Histories especially those of later Times whereof I could give many Instances The Chronology of Comets to go no higher than the 13th Century after Christ to this present doth afford us most Direful Effects of many Comets frequently appearing within that compass of time a particular Account whereof a single sheet cannot compleatly comprehend especially to Discourse upon them all Phisitally Politically and Theologically The Rules of this Astrological Art whereby to make Right Prognostications must be acknowledged to be Obscure and Doubtful to Instance in that one Astrological Axiom That the Prognosticks of Comets do depend all upon Mars and Mercury T●●s is hard to be Demonstrated for none can prove what is the Influence of this or that Star in Heaven as they may the Operation of Rhubarb or other Druggs on Earth Yet Ptolomy with others make this Maxime aforesaid thus far probable saying The Effects of Comets which are rarely Good but mostly Evil are of two sorts 1. Such things as are Savage Bloody Mortiferous c. portended by them be ascribed to Mars and other things that are Inconstant Moveable and Uncertain be ascribed to Mercury The Assertion here may be true though the Application be false for Astrologorum Decreta non sunt praetoria their Rules are not Infallible yet Examples have more perspicuity and certainty in them I shall only give the two last and latest Exemplifications of Comets the one in 1664 and the other in 1677. That in 64 was a forerunner of most Dreadful Dispensations as the Sweeping pestilence in 65 and the Swallowing fire in 66. The former falls fowl upon Persons the latter upon Habitations The last in 1677. was a forerunner of the most Damnable Plot yea a Complication of Plots that ever Hell invented Now God hath lighted up another Torch to give us a new Warning that being forewarned we might be forearmed also especially with those Arms of the Church to wit prayers and Tears our Desperate Malady hath not yet met with an Effectual Remedy lest those Matchless Mischiefs which are Imminent over us may not also be Incumbent on us There is certainly something more than ordinary God hath upon the Wheel to lighten up such a Blaze as this in the very depth of Winter which is a time Diametrically contrary to the very Nature of Comets for Cold and Moist Weather is altogether unapt to produce those Hot and Dry Vapours whereof a Comit consisteth A Winter Comet is therefore like Winter Thunder which is commonly call'd the Worlds Wonder The proper time of engendring those Meteors is Antumn for in Spring-time there is supposed to be too much Moisture and too little Heat to congregate those Vapours and in Summer-time there is so much Heat as plainly Segregate and Disperses those Exhalations but Winter-time is wholly opposite to their existency and quite contrary to the constituting of them Therefore this Extraordinary and preternatural sign must needs signifie some Extraordinary and supernatural thing even some Sweeping Swinging or Scourging yea some Cutting or Killing Dispensation for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Apparition Extraordinary which I saw with my own Eyes had a threefold Resemblance 1. Of a Broom 2. Of a Rod 3. Of a Sword 1. Of a large Broom or Besom yet Dreadfull to behold by its sparkling Aspect as if God were coming to Sweep Babylon with his dreadful Besom of Destruction as he hath promised Isa 14 22 23. 'T is true God hath his Scopas purgatorias as well as perdito●ias his Brushing as well as Crushing Besoms The former is for Sion which God Brushes only for its Ornament the latter is for Babylon which God Crushes also for its Overthrow God grant this Vnclean Spirit of Babylon may be Swept out of our Land Zach. 13.2 Even by a Parliamentary Besom 2. Of a long and fiery Rod wherewith God may Swinge

or Scourge the Inhabitants of the Earth a God may indeed Chastize Sion with Rods gently and favourably as a Father his Children not to break their Bones but their Stomachs but God will Scourge Babylon with Scorpions as 1 King 12.11 He will break her with his Rod of Iron Psal 2.9 like a Potters Vessel that can never be patcht together again She shall feel the weight of God's mighty hand upon her to Crush her to pieces and to Grind her to Powder 3. Of a prodigious flaming Sword possibly not unlike that which God placed at the Garden of Eden turning every way to keep the Gate thereof Gen. 3.24 There the Cheru● or Angel had Lahat Chereb a Flaming Sword a great Elegancy in the Hebrew and a Material Sword made of Steel if brandisht will Dart out bright and dazling flames according to that of Vorgils Aemad 8. Ipsem Terribilem flammasque Vomentem God bless us from this Material and Brandisht flame Vomiting or Glittering Sword Ezek. 21 9 10 14 28. God may call for such a Sword Ezek. 38 21. Levit. 26.25 If we give no better Audience and Obedience than we have done to the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God Eph. 6.17 as we have smarted under the Sword of the Angel which is the Pestilence 1 Chron 21.16.27 So God may bring upon us the Sword of the Enemy whose Mercies are Cruelties Oh God forbid that he should Hiss for the Flies of Egypt to bite us or the See of Babylan which is worse to sting us Isa 7.18 The Star it self that shouteth forth this flaming Sword I have not beheld it being as yet hid in the Sun beams going down a little after the Sun a little before the New Moon and a little before Fiery Mars being not far from all these three in the Horizon nigh to Aquila and to the Milken Allyc All which would afford over curious and too critical Speculations according to the Rules of Astrological Art which I therefore omit Though Comets in themselves simply considerate or in their Houses wherein they are seen do not make future Events uncontroulably legible yet when they are placed in Conjunction with the Sacred Scripture they are not without their proper Instruction but foretell singular things provided the word of God who is the Creator of Comets be the Rule of that Interp●etation Though we Christians should not be afraid of the sign of Heaven as the Blind Heathen were Jer. 10.2 Yet may we not altogether despise those Divine Monitors and footsteps of Providence though obscure seeing 't is God's Method frequently Recorded in History that when he is about to punish a City or Nation he is wont to give them warning thereof first by some previous Prodigies and to hang out some Conspicuous signs of Divine Displeasure in the Air to be beheld of all Men And though Comets for the most part are loud Preachers from Heaven which Popish Prelates cannot silence of Gods wrath for Mens sins yet may they publish Joy to some as well as sorrow to others for the Setting of one may be the Rising of another the Falling of Old Favourites may be the Rise of New ones as Haman's fall was Mordecai's rise Thus the Tiburtine Sybel Interpre●ed that Comet of a vast bigness that appeared at Christ's Birth saying Hic puer major te est c. This Child that is now born is greater than thee O Roman Emperour and he comes to set up a Kingdom that shall destroy the Roman Kingdom Might we have the same liberty to suppose this strange Star to be an Angel as some do that in Mat. 2.2 9 10. Then hath He a drawn flaming Sword in his hand Ready to destroy our Jerusalem as that Angel had 1 Chron. 21.16 Oh pray pray pray that God may repent him of that Evil and say to the Angel 'T is enough stay thy hand and put up thy Sword into its sheath v. 97. and 2 Sam. 24.16 but suppose it such an Angel as stood in Balaam's perverse way with a drawn Sword in his hand Numb 22.23 or rather that Angel of the Covenant out of whose mouth cometh a sharp Sword Rev. 19.15 21. Oh pray pray that this Sword may slay not only the grand Balaam of Rome but even Babylon too and all her proud Helpers as he hath there both Prophecyed and Promised This is the Hearty Prayer of C. N. London Printed for J. Wilkins and J. Sampson 1680. A Second SHEET further Blazoning upon the Blazing-star With a Chronology of COMETS for the last 400 years HAving spoken to the Products Form Colour Motion and Signification of Blazing-stars in the first Sheet A further Account of the Prognosticks of Comets in General and of this present COMET in particular which the first Sheet could not contain I insert and send forth in this The General Prognosticks of COMETS according to the best Rules of Astrology are deduced from an Ancient and Receiv'd Tristich or 3 Latin Verses Octo Comet a Mala haec fulgendo per Aethera Signat Ventus Sterilitas Aq●a Pestis praedominantur Rixa Tr●mor Moritur Dux F●t Mutatio Regni This plain yet pithy Poetry doth in our native Language signify That Comets Blazing in the Air doth portend 8 several Mischiefs as the Predominancy 1. Of Storms and Tempests 2. Of Drought and Dearth 3. Of great Floods and Inundations 4. Of Plague and Pestilence 5. Of Troublesome Fears and Jealousies 6. Of Quarrels and Contentions 7. Of the Death of great Captains 8. Of Alterations in States and Kingdoms Those Prognostications in general are not altogether improbable if considered either 1. Physically 2. 〈◊〉 or 3 ●he●logically by a Judicious mind 1. Physically considered so ●omets probably are not only natural Si●●● but also natural Causes mostly of much Evil through sometimes they may be also of much G●o● .. 'T is a Maxim in Phi●osophy That natural Causes must produce the like natural Effects now it may be rationally argued That Comets are Natural Cause as well as Signs 1. Of Drought Dearth Plague c. 1. Because without a great Heat a Comet cannot be incorporated and much moisture must of necessity be consumed by its flames when once it is sired This as the Cause produceth Drought as its effect and Drought brings forth Dearth 2. Because the I athess and so by consequence the Fertility or Fruitfulness of the Earth is exhaled not only to the compounding of the Comet whereof it is mostly constituted as in the first Sheet but also exhausted by the continued Hames of the long burning Comet so near to it as the Region of the Air is the follows the P●agu● as another Effect of Drought and D●ard● all those Three having a mutual connection each with the other and producing one another 3. Because so many l●●● and dry Vapours and Exhalations as must make up the mo●ntanous mass of a Comet come to be sired and so dispersed hither and t●●ther in the Upper Region