Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	witness_n	witness_v	world_n	47	3	3.9066	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16241	Theatrum mundi the theatre or rule of the world, wherein may be sene the running race and course of euerye mans life, as touching miserie and felicity, wherin be contained wonderfull examples, learned deuises, to the ouerthrowe of vice, and exalting of vertue. wherevnto is added a learned, and maruellous worke of the excellencie of mankinde. Written in the Frenche & Latin tongues by Peter Boaystuau, and translated into English by Iohn Alday.; Theatre du monde. English	Boaistuau, Pierre, d. 1566.; Alday, John.	1566 (1566)	STC 3168; ESTC S102736	106,769	288

that bought it and yet they had this consideration to make them sweare that they shoulde not vse therof in their Prouince nor agaynst their friendes but only againste straungers But good God the Diuell hath so entred into men at this daye and hath made them so cunning apt in euill and mischiefe that by the smell therof men are poysoned as the experience was at Sienne Another Florentine knight after that he had pulled of his helmet for to take ayre and to refresh him an enimie of his rubbed him with a certaine poyson which was the occasion that he died sodenly Also in flames of torches they can so wel corrupt them that their smell smoke shal poyson men in such sort that many dare not light torches a nights for to cōduct thē if y t they stand in feare of their enimie As cōcerning meats drinks empoysoned that is a common practise and as they saye the reuenge of kitchen maides but I am ashamed for that I nedes must tell that which I haue red in a famous Author that they haue founde the meanes in our age to empoyson the saddels of horses bootes and spurs also that which cannot be pronounced without griefe for in touching the hands one of another yea euen in letters and writings that are sent the which being vnclosed there is a little subtill vapor that riseth hie and ascēdeth by little into a mans braynes They knowe the practise whereof Theophrastus speaketh that the poyson is sometimes prepared after such a sort that it killeth not but at the murtherers intentiō for if he wil the party shal liue iij. moneths .vi. moneths a yere in such sort that death commeth at the time of y ● collectiō and gathering of the medicine or poyson prepared Furthermore as I haue vnderstoode of men worthy of faith and credence that they haue the subtiltie to make it after such a sorte that it shall not hurt but one mēber one arme or one leg The experience thereof hath bene séene in a fountaine empoysoned beside Rhine neare to the sea the water of the saide caused the téeth to fall out of all those that drunke thereof in the campe of Germanie Also things are come to such desolation that they haue foūd the meanes to mingle poyson with the Wafer or Communion bread as I haue writtē in other places Is not this a maruelous thing that Ierom Cardan writeth of a certaine inuention of Gray Friers that hath bene foūd in our yeares of a Coller or Carcan whiche if the Creditor put it on the Debtors necke it can not be taken awaye but of him that put it on and by such mischief one Zafarnus citizen of Millaine being ouercome by his Creditor died as Cardan witnesseth There resteth nowe to shewe howe that man is afflicted by the foure elements which are as witnesses and ministers of the vengeance and wrath of God against our sinnes What is there more necessarie for the life of man than water for there is neyther mā nor beast that can liue without the vse thereof there is neyther herbe nor plant that can bring forth either séede or fruite without water without putting in account the profit and cōmoditie that it bringeth in this worlde séeing also that it is the most aunciētest and mightiest element of all as Plinie and Isidorus writeth it ouerwhelmeth and decaieth mountains she gouerneth the earth quencheth the fier and conuerting into vapors surpasseth the Region of the ayre and afterwardes descendeth for to engender and bring forth al things that are hid in the earth And yet notwithstanding what chasticements hath the antiquitie or former age tasted of the rigor of this element when the great fall of waters was that couered all y e earth when that the vames of heauen were opened and that the water did surpasse or ouerwhelmed the most hyest mountaines the heigth of fiftene fadome as Moyses witnesseth in Genesis How oftentimes hath Egypt bene ouerflowen when that Nille deriued from his chanel how many thousands of men haue loste their liues and haue bene deuoured of fishes Gréeke lande hath felt the furie of the waters and can witnesse the same when the greate floud or deluge of waters did ouerrun the most part of Thessalie the people being afrayed all to be drowned What losse and harme receyued the Romaines in the yeare a thousand fiue hundreth thirtie by the swelling and ouerflowing of the floud of Tiber the which did rise after such a sorte that it ouerwhelmed houses and hie toures in their citie and beside the losse of Bridges that were broken the losse of goods golde siluer wine corne cloth of silke oyles woolles and other mouables to the value of thrée Msllions of golde there died more than thrée hundreth men beside women and children which were drowned by violence of the waters of the said floud as the Elders do write Iespar Contarenus in his boks of the foure elementes writeth that in our time Vallencia a Citie in Spaine with al the Citizens were almost drowned by a violent an vnknown water after such sorte that if the Citizens had not sodainlye giuen succor in rampairing and fencing there had bene no other hope of safegard Without making mention of an infinite of other harmes and domages that we haue receyued since this fiue or sixe thousande yeares that the worlde was created of raynes hayles frostes snowes and other lyke iniuries that depend of the rigor of this element What is there more wonderfull in nature than fier by the benefite wherof all our meates are seasoned the life of many things is Mettalles are mingled and made flexible iron is daunted made pliable and ouercōmed the lime stones that we vse for y e plastring trimming of our houses and edifices are burned and softned in the bellie or middest of the earth by his aide and help And notwithstanding how manye famous Cities haue bene fiered burned brought to ashes by the vertue of this element the moste auncientest witnesse is in the holie scripture of Sodome and Gomor on the which our Lorde God poured or rained downe fier and brimstone and the last scourge and destruction of the vniuersall world shalbe executed by the furie of this element as it is written by by the Prophets and Apostles If that I would set out at large and by order the proude Cities and Prouinces that haue bene burned in diuers places of the world by the incursiō and insurrection of the warre but onely in our time the Tragedie would be excessiue But those that are curious of such things let them read Strabo in his twelfth booke Ruffinus treating of Eusebius workes and Amianus Marcelinus where they shall finde also that the flames of fier proceading from the tops of hilles or mountaines and other bowels of the earth haue burned manye townes with their inhabitants In the time of Lucius Marcus Sextus Iulius the Consuls there procéeded

reuolution of the heauens nor of al the other clouds but that it shal penetrate passe forth Furthermore if thou art minded to surpasse al y e globes of the firmament and sée what is there cōtained it shalbe likewise lawful for thée sée then how great is the sodenrie of y e soule estéeme thy self immortal and that thou mayest comprehende all Arts and sciences exalt thy selfe aboue all and discend more déeper than the déepest gather togither all the meaning of thy déedes likewise of fier of water drinesse and moysture be thou ouer all the partes of the world in heauen in earth in the Sea dwell or inhabit out of the vessell of this bodie Man therefore is a great miracle of nature who althoughe he be composed and made of a mortall nature neuerthelesse the other is celestiall and remembreth the gifts of grace it despiseth terrestriall things and wissheth for heauenlye things for bicause that the better part féeleth to haue from thence his proper affinitie and naturall aliaunce But if the soule or the reason which is a facultie and powre of y e same which can no more forsake it than the light or brightnesse doth y e sunne might be séene openly and visibly what miracle or straunge spectacle might we sée of hir maruellous effectes but she is letted by y e bodie and by the memorie the which Mercurius nameth tyrants and murtherers of the same the which doe so let and hinder that she can not shew hir deuine excellencie vnlesse that by contemplation we separate oure selues and sequestrate from them And thē when that she is separated from this burthen of the bodie and almost putrified it receyueth heauenly gifts flieth vp to heauen talketh with the Aungels and penitrateth euen before the throne of Gods maiestie and being enflamed with a deuine feruency it bringeth forth things miraculous almost vncredible As we reade of Moyses after y ● he was separated frō men and was certain time in the desert of Ethiopia his face did so shine that the children of Israel could not behold him S. Paule was rauished to the third heauen In like case Socrates sometimes as transfigured did diligently and stedfastly beholde the sunne for the space of an houre Alexander the great being on a time in extréeme perill of his life in a certaine battell that he had in the Indies being without help or succor he was in such an agonie that he swet pure bloude from his face and his bodie so that it séemed to the Indians that he was all on a fierie flame the which caused among 〈◊〉 such feare that they were fai● to 〈◊〉 him and let him go By this you maye sée then that sometimes the soule hath so much powre ouer the bodie the which is but the sepulcher wherin it is buried that it is at libertie and surmounteth our capacitie and séeketh to sée againe his first home which is heauen in suche sort that the body remaineth voyd of féeling or mouing As S. Augustine reherseth of a Priest the which so often as he would be in contemplation or praier he would fall down as dead or in a traunce without breathing or anye féeling in him so that what paine so euer was shewed him he felt no harme at all and after he was returned to himselfe he woulde tell such straunge things that the assistantes would maruell to heare him Herodotus writeth the like of a great Philosopher that was named Atheus of whome he sheweth for a truth the soule many times to forsake his bodie after it hath peregrinated or wandered through diuers countries and Regions it shewed by order that which it had seene the which was approued to be as true as thoughe it had bene present The death of Iulian the Emperour was forshewed him by a childe who after he had looked in a glasse shewed him of hys destruction and howe his enimies were comming those that shoulde kill him without hauing any knowledge or hearing any speake thereof A certaine Philosopher did the like to Pompei y e which shewed him in a glasse the order of hys enimies redie to march in battell These are the effectes and powre of the soule the whiche sometimes being vnbounde from earthly bandes is rauished in the contemplation of heauenly secrets and doth vncredible miraculous monstruous and maruellous things and that séeme almost to fight with the nature which is the cause that for the most part y ● vulgar sort referreth many things to the inuention of wicked spirits y e which they ought to attribute to man as hys owne proper heritage It is of a truth that Leonard Pistoriensis did so wel diet himselfe that by little and little he abstayned from eating but once a wéeke And yet this is but litle to that which other writers do write of a man that was in the time of Bochas in base Almayne that for y ● space of .xxx. yeres tooke no repast nor refectiō by the mouth the which thing should séeme vnto vs vncredible without the confirmatiō that we haue of an infinit nūber of witnesses of y e which some of them haue written and others haue séene with their eyes Brother Nicolas of Saxonie a Swecian of Nation the which remained or dwelled .xxij. yeares in the wildernesse and continued in his abstinencie during his life without giuing or ministring any foode or sustenance to his body The which Damascenus proueth by many reasons maye be possible and according to nature séeing that manye beastes and wormes are in the bowels of the earth and remaine hid many Monthes and yeres without food And at this daye it is saide that the Scithians will continue twelue days without meat being comforted with the vertue of a certaine herbe that they kéepe enclosed in their mouth Now what shal we séeke more in this creature of God that is wonderful reserued deuinitie for if we should rehearse and declare all the singularities and excellencies that are manifested and shewed in him of the which many writers make mention I should occupy a large volume Some by a hid secret and deuine misterie coulde not by no meanes be offēded or grieued with any kinde of poyson or venim as a king named Mithridates who after that he was vanquished and ouercome by Pompei chused rather to die than to fall into the handes of his enimie and for to rid his life tooke diuers venims and poysons but after that he had tried tasted al he could find none of sufficient strēgth to ouercome him for his own proper nature did kéepe and preserue him against their powre So that seeing that by thys meanes he could not dispatch his life he was constreyned at the last to kill him selfe with a dagger Galen the Prince of Medicins writeth that a Maide named Napellus was nourished with poyson in hir yong yeares to the which she was so well accustomed that y ● poyson did turne to hir nourishment