Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	air_n	element_n	fire_n	13,062	5	7.1789	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20000	Dialogicall discourses of spirits and divels declaring their proper essence, natures, dispositions, and operations, their possessions and dispossessions : with other the appendantes, peculiarly appertaining to those speciall points, verie conducent, and pertinent to the timely procuring of some Christian conformitie in iudgement, for the peaceable compounding of the late sprong controuersies concerning all such intricate and difficult doubts / by [brace] Iohn Deacon, Iohn Walker...	Deacon, John, fl. 1585-1616.; Walker, John, preacher.	1601 (1601)	STC 6439; ESTC S323	312,434	405

Philosophers the aire is rather passiue then actiue because his proper qualitie is thought to be liquide Howbeit heate and cold are said to be actiue but drinesse and humiditie passiue qualities Moreuer it hath beene prooued by manifest and daily experiments that the aire is both passible and corruptible and may easily be corrupted and changed And therefore if the Diuels haue airie bodies they are subiect to corruption and dissolution and so by consequence the Diuels they should be indued with mortal bodies as was affirmed before Lycanthropus But manie for all this doe flatly auouch that the Diuels haue either fierie or aierie or waterie or earthlie bodies yea such bodies as can feele and be felte both hurt and be hurt in so much as they lament when they are stricken and being put to the fier are burnt And that they themselues continually burne in such sort as they leaue ashes behinde them as hath beene manifestly prooued in the borders of Italie Physiologus If you lend you eares to the opinion of the Platonists or but listen a while to the dotages of dreaming Psellus they will fill your head full of these and such other Italian tales wherein it were more ease for a man to beleeue them then to run into the borders of Italie to reprooue them of falsehood Howbeit if Diuels in deede should haue elementarie bodies they could not be eternal For the elements they haue in them both heate and cold drinesse and moisture yea such actiue and passiue qualities both as by contending together continually must needes in the end be vtterly dissolued And therefore these toyes which the Platonistes and Psellus doe tattle abroad are matters that cleaue together like thombe-roppes of sand hauing in them no soundnes of truth Besides that their Philosophie herein is very improbable for if the Diuel be earthie he must needes be palpable if he be palpable he must needes kill the man into whom he really entreth Also if he be of earth created then must he be visible and vntransformable concerning that point for Gods creation cannot be annihilated by any deuise of the creature So as although it were graunted that the Diuels might adde to their being either matter or forme yet very certaine it is they cannot possibly diminish or alter the substance whereof they consist As not to be spiritual or to relinquish and leaue earth water fire aire or this or that element whereof they were first created and made But howsoeuer they imagine of water of aire or of fire very certaine I am that the earth must alwaies be visible and palpable yea and the aire must be alwaies inuisible and fire must be hote and water must be moist And of these three latter bodies especially of water and aire no shape nor forme can naturally be exhibited to mortall mens eies by any possible meanes of the creature Lycanthropus Well yet for any thing heard I can hardly be perswaded but that Diuels haue their proper and peculiar bodies Orthodoxus I haue forborne a long time to speake in hope that Physiologus and your selfe would haue growen to some issue concerning this point But sith you persist in your fond opinion doe tell me what it is that makes you imagine the Diuels to haue also their bodies Lycanthropus This especially perswades me vnto it I finde in the scriptures fower sortes of spirites Namely first a diuine spirit which only is God who although he be a spirit yet hath he no need of a bodie touching either his being or his working The second are Angelical spirites namely Angels and Diuels who albeit they neede no bodies at all in respect either of their being or of their proper actions yet neede they their bodies in communicating their actions vnto vs. The third are humane spirites who in regard of their essential being doe neede no bodies for they really exist and liue being disioined asunder from their bodies Although yet concerning their organical actions appertaining especiallie to the vegetatiue sensitiue life they at no hand may want their proper bodies The fourth and last sort are brutish spirites which neither can be nor do any thing at al without their bodies By al which it is cleare that of these foure sorts of spirits the diuine spirit alone the omnipotent God I meane he needeth no bodie al the rest they haue al neede of and doe also enioy their owne bodies for the vse of themselues and of others and this either to helpe or to hurt And for these selfesame respects the very diuels also themselues do stand in neede of their bodies Orthodoxus By this your distribution of spirites it doth plainlie appeare that spirites and diuels they neede no bodies at al touching either their beeing or working For first they haue their essentiall beeing without anie body in as much as they are spiritual substances and then next they neede also no bodies concerning their proper actions for they loue they hate they affect they doe wil and vnderstand without anie helpe of bodies at al. Lycanthropus I speake not now of their proper but of their ministeriall actions which they cannot possiblie accomplish without their peculiar bodies Orthodoxus And I vnderstand it also of their ministerial actions which they may and do eftsoones accomplish by assumed bodies without any their peculiar bodies at all And heerin also I speake onely of good Angels but goe to proceede in framing your argument Lycanthropus I frame it thus Ministers they cannot possiblie accomplish their appointed ministerie to those that liue in the bodie without hauing a bodie But the Angels are all ministring spirits for such saued ones as liue in the bodie therefore they cannot possibly accomplish their ministerie to them without hauing a body Orthodoxus I vnframe it thus The truth of your proposition is onely particular hauing speciall relation to some certeine kind of ministerie and therefore it doth not nor cannot so generally conclude as you would haue it to doe Because Angels or spirits they may and do eftsoones vndergoe some certeine offices without any assistance of an externall bodie yea euen all their offices whatsoeuer they might and could wel vndertake without any bodie at all if it so seemed good to the Lord. Howbeit some other offices againe they doe execute in bodies not because there is otherwaies in themselues a defect for that work but for their sakes onely to whom they are sent Neither is it of any necessitie that the Angels for some speciall respects should alwaies consist vpon and haue peculiarly vnto them their owne proper bodies because for such speciall respects they may and haue eftsoones assumed to themselues some other bodies from else where Howbeit what need of assuming of bodies at all if Angels and spirits be alwaies endued with their proper and peculiar bodies No surely then to assume where no assuming of bodies in deed but rather a stretching out a rending and dissoluing of substances

essence of spirits and diuels Where I telling you that the Scriptures deliuer vnto vs not corporall but spirituall diuels that spirits and bodies are opposed the one to the other and therefore cannot possibly be one and the same thereupon we concluded that spirits and diuels are not corporall but spiritual substances all which you held then for an infallible truth Howbeit being here driuen to a straight you doe now either ignorantly forget or purposely peruert the verie truth you affirmed before For now you say plainely that diuels haue also their proper bodies peculiarly appropriated vnto them What is this else but to say and vnsay and to turne with euerie winde not vnlike to the wauering Weathercocke Lycanthropus I denied them to be corporall substances in comparison of our grosse and elementarie bodies when yet notwithstanding I doe simply hold and confidently auouch them to haue also their bodies Physiologus Make plaine your meaning and tell vs whether you hold them to haue their proper or assumed bodies Lycanthropus Euen proper and peculiar bodies created for them Physiologus Goe to then euerie created bodie is either celestial or elementarie Whether of both these thinke you is proper to Diuels Lycanthropus Surely I thinke they haue celestiall bodies Physiologus Verie well But I pray you consider this also that the diuels if they haue corporall bodies then also they haue their corporall motions Now euerie naturall motion we doe know is either circuler or elementarie The circuler motion for celestial bodies the elementarie motion for elementarie bodies Whereupon it followeth that if diuels as you say be indued with celestial bodies then also those their celestiall bodies must naturally follow the circuler motion On the other side the possessed man you know he hath an elementarie bodie and therefore his said bodie it must and will naturally follow the motion of that element whereof it doth chiefly consist Pneumatomachus What inferre you hereof I beseech you Physiologus Thus much I inferre namelie that Lycanthropus his opinion concerning the real possession of diuels doth draw after it manie grosse and palpable absurdities As for example If the diuel as you your selfe doe confidentlie hold hath a celestial bodie then how should he really and essentiallie enter into the elementarie body of an earthlie man or possibly make any personal abode in the possessed mans bellie sith the diuel hauing as you say a celestial bodie naturallie attending and folowing the circuler motion he cannot be long from that natural motion but must eftsoones mount aloft to that celestial heauen whereon his supposed bodie consists to folow his circuler motion and then what wil become I beseech you of the possessed mans bodie Againe if a spirit or diuell hauing as you hold a celestiall bodie should essentially enter into the elementarie bodie of a terrestrial man then surelie for the whole time of that real possession there must be both in the diuel and the man either no motion at al which were absurd to imagine or else in the one or in both a supernaturall motion and so by consequence that reall possession should be verie miraculous which were now in these daies of the Gospell incredible to heare For the diuell he being as you say really essentially yea and corporally also in man that man hauing an elementarie bodie which naturallie attendes the elementarie motion and the diuell he hauing a celestiall bodie which must naturally folow the circuler motion how can the bodie of man conuerse with the bodie of the diuel it following naturally the circuler motion but that selfe-same circuler motion must needes be in the possessed mans bodie a supernaturall motion Or how should the bodie of the diuell be really inherent in the possessed mans bodie and so folow therein the elementarie motion but that selfesame elementarie motion also must needes be a supernaturall motion in the diuell his bodie And so by consequence a miracle in the one or in both Againe if the diuels what bodies soeuer they haue whether celestial or elementary do as appeeres in the word mooue euery way vpward and downward on the right hand and left before and behinde vs If the diuels as the Platonists affirme can verie easely stretch out their bodies into what bignesse they please or contract them into what smalenesse they list and can varie in them as their pleasures whatsoeuer colour or figure they fansie briefly if the diuels as Psellus reporteth haue such bodies as are euery day tortured with griefes tormented with materiall fiers surely it were verie absurd to suppose that a celestiall bodie is in any sort fit for any the precedent matters but farre opposite to them and therefore much more absurd to imagine that diuels haue celestiall bodies Philologus Surely Lycanthropus if diuels be indued as you say with their peculiar bodies I would rather imagine them to haue airie then celestiall bodies because the Apostle he cals them airie spirits and as Chrysostome saith the whole aire is replenished throughout with diuels Physiologus Howsoeuer Paule or Chrysostome affirme there be diuels in the aire that doth not conclude that therefore the diuels they haue airie bodies which opinion is much more absurde then the other before For first that the diuels should haue airie bodies it is vtterly impossible Because the aire is as we commonly say a bodie of one and the selfesame kinde so as euerie part of ayre is ayre neither can any reason be rendred why this part of the ayre should be more the bodie of a diuell then another and so the whole ayre should be a continued bodie of diuels Besides that an organicall bodie consisting iointly of distinct members must haue bones synowes vaines arteries flesh and must also receiue some proportion shape or figure all which are impossible to be made of the ayre Againe the ayre is inconstant and continueth not long in a place and therefore by ascribing to the diuel an ayrie bodie we might rather conclude him a runnagate land-leaper then an inherent land-lord in any mans bodie Briefly if the diuel hath an ayrie bodie then also his said bodie is subiect to corruption and dissolution for the ayre is a corrupt and dissoluble bodie and so by consequence the diuels should be mortall as touching their ayrie bodies And therupon either they must haue new bodies made them a fresh when those other be dissolued or we must else beleeue also a resurrection of the bodies of diuels all which you may see is verie absurd Lycanthropus But Augustine he holdeth the contrarie For therefore saith he is the bodie of a Diuel incortuptible because in the aire and fire there is an actiue force as also in the water and earth a passiue force and so by consequence the bodie of a Diuel being airie is rather actiue then passiue Physiologus By Augustines leaue this accordeth neither with sound Philosophie nor yet with common experience For with the

be no better argument I hope then common experience Physiologus Indeed as you say experience she is called the schoole-mistres of fooles and yet she is not to bee accompted a foolish schoole-mistres but such a one rather as when all other meanes faile is able to worke wisedome in the most foolish on earth Yea she is such an approoued schoole-mistres as euen the wisest of all must be subiect vnto And therefore if you haue her on your side as you saie you are not vnlike to preuaile Exorcistes Yes I haue her verie sure For the most in Mahgnitton and sundrie other besides are euerie of them able to testifie in their owne experience an actuall possession in the yoong-man there as also in many others else where Physiologus They are able to testifie thus much you say in their owne experience The question is now whether that their owne experience be a true experience Exorcistes There needes no question to be made thereof For the witnesses eftsoones did see the fellow in his fearefull fittes they viewed his wallowings his fomings his rendings and tearings they beheld his senslesnesse his bowings and bendings togither they perceiued his many outrages his swounings and dangerous falling in fires they handled his stiffenes of limbes his sundrie swellings and the Kitlings crawling vnder the couerlid as he lay in his bedde they heard his roarings his cryings with many strange knocking 's and the Diuell eftsoones speaking verie hideously within him briefly they smelt many sodaine and vnwoonted strong sauours eftsoones very sweete and sometimes more stinking then brimstone with sondrie other verie sensible signes of actuall possession yea and all these verie sensibly in their owne experience Physiologus These your supposed sensible signes they are I confesse such sensible demonstrations as may fully suffice to conclude a common experience if all were as commonly true as they are commonly reported abroad Philologus True sir why I assure you they are all extant in Print in a very authenticall narration and which more is in maister Exorcistes his Printed Apologie Physiologus I am easily drawen to beleeue your report and so much the rather for that Painters Poets do challenge a priuiledge to print what they please Howbeit this is no good argument they are all extant in printe therefore they are all vndoubtedlie true Exorcistes As you say sir. But these I assure you are all auouched for truths and that also vpon the corporall oaths of sundrie discreete and honest deponents Physiologus For truths as they tooke them at least and so neither their discretions their honesties nor oaths are any thing tainted though happily they failed in substance Howbeit many others not of the meaner or simpler sort are otherwaies fully resolued Partly in regard of the verie actions themselues and partly in an especiall respect of Satan the supposed actor of them For first cōcerning the actions themselues How strange soeuer in a seeming shew they are no way so strange in truth but that many things else as much and more strange then they are in shew may ordinarily proceed from naturall experiments and be admirably effected by actiue and ingenious persons the practise whereof would seeme in these daies if not an actuall possession yet a cosening tricke of some cogging companion at least Lycanthropus I pray you discouer some fewe of those naturall experiments Physiologus With verie good will And this I must tell you before that there is not a man in the world though neuer so little imbrued with Philosophicall skill but he verie well knoweth there be many hidden vertues of meere naturall things and those also the howerly effectours of many admirable actions which saide vertues if a man vnderstood well and could skilfully apply them to his purpose pretended he might vndoubtedly accomplish many vnwoonted experiments Yea there be many maruels in nature hitherto vnexperienced of any and to vse Plinie his words as yet wholy ouershadowed with natures maiestie which the spirit of all spirits onely knoweth how and when to implop at his pleasure Now then if any man couertly practising the experiments of these naturall causes did apparantly accomplish like admirable matters men would commonly account him a Magitian and verie hardly beleeue he could possibly effect those rare and strange feats without the power and helpe of the diuel whereas yet they are onely meere natural actions and produced wholy from meere naturall causes Of these naturall maruels hath Aristotle penned downe a most perfit treatise which notwithstanding is by some ascribed to Theophrastus Plinie also he hath some such wonderfull matters in sundry of his workes but verie many in his naturall historie as may appeare plainely to such as exactly peruseth the same Besides this Proclus he also hath penned downe many all tending directly to that selfesame purpose Yea and which more is Augustine himselfe Albertus Magnus Fracastorius and Ficinus also they are none of them inferiour herein to any of the others before To be briefe there are verie many such matters dispersed throughout Cardanus his bookes concerning the subtletie and varietie of things which I will here briefly repeat out of Plinie his works Pneumatomachus Doe so I hartily pray you for therein you shall accomplish vnto vs a singular pleasure Physiologus I will spare for no paines so far foorth especially as my memorie serues me and therefore hearken attentiuely to it Philologus Yes sir be you sure you shall find vs attentiue Athenians in hearing and reporting strange newes Physiologus Well then this first I must tell you that very neere vnto Harpasa a towne in Asia there standeth an horrible craggy rock or torre which a man may easily moue with a little touch of one of his fingers whereas if he set his whole body vnto that selfesame rock he cannot possibly stirre it the breadth of an haire Againe there are other two mountaines very nerely adioining vnto the famous riuer called Indus The nature of one mountaine is to draw iron vnto it and of the other by all meanes to reiect and put iron from it In so much as if any man come on those mountaines with nailes in his shooes he cannot with his said shooes be possibly pulled from the one nor by any meanes stand on the other Againe very nere vnto Babilon there floweth foorth from a rock some certeine naturall matter called Naphtha being a chalkie clay and of a slimy moist substance not vnlike vnto pitch This said Naphtha on which side soeuer a man shall behold it hath flames of fier ouerflowing the same which cannot possibly be quenched but with aboundance of water with vineger with alome or birdlime Againe from Nympheum the famous promontory or mountaine of Proconnesus an iland in Propontis there floweth foorth from the middest of the rock a flame which by the drops of raine is kindled and set on fire Againe in Dodona a citie of Greece Iupiter his