Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	death_n	die_v	life_n	5,110	5	5.0778	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B12517	A midnights trance wherin is discoursed of death, the nature of the soules, and estate of immortalitie. As it was written at the desire of a nobleman, by W.D.	Drummond, William, 1585-1649.	1619 (1619)	STC 7252.5; ESTC S117487	17,167	104

or great King on the earth hath builded any stately City the worke being perfected they were wont to set their Image in the middest of it to be gazed vpon and admired No otherwise hath the Soueraine of this All the fabricke of it done placed Man made to his own Image in the midst of this admirable City God contayneth all in him as the beginning of al Man containeth al in him as the midst of all inferior things be in man more nobly then they exist superior things more basely celestiall things fauour him earthly things are vassaled vnto him hee is the band of ●oth neyther is it possible but that both of them haue peace with him if he haue peace with him who made the couenant betweene them and him Hee was made that hee might know the infinite goodnesse power and glory of him who made him and knowing loue and louing enioy him and to hold the Earth of him as of his Lord Paramount How can it bee thought that God should giue so long life to Trees Beasts and the Birds of the Ayre being Creatures inferior to Man which haue lesse vse of it and denie it to him vnlesse hee had prepared another manner of liuing for him in a place more excellent But O God! said I had it not been better that for the good of his natiue Countrey so _____ had yet liued How long will ye replied he like the Ants thinke there bee no fayrer palaces then their hills and like poreblinde Moles there is no greater light then that little which they shunne As if the master of a Campe knew when to remoue a Sentinell and hee who placeth Man on this Earth did not know how long he had neede of him Euery one commeth here to act his part of this Tragicomedie called Life which done the Curtaine is drawne and he remouing from the Stage is said to die Most _____ then answered I Death is not such an euill and paine as it is of the vulgar esteemed Death said he nor painefull is nor euill of it selfe except in contemplation of the cause of it being as indifferent as birth Yet it cannot be denied but that the vncouthnesse of it with the wrong apprehension of what is vnknowne in it is noysome But the Soule sustained by its Maker prepared and calmely retired in it selfe doth finde that Death since it is in a moment of time is but a short nay sweete sigh and is not worthy the remembrance compared with the smallest dramme of the infinite happinesse of this place Here is the Palace roy all of the Almighty King in which the incomprehensible comprehensibly manifesteth himselfe in place highest in substance not subiect to any corruption or change for it is aboue all motion and solid turneth not in quantitie greatest for if one Starre one Spheare bee so vast how vast how great must those bounds bee which doth them all containe In qualitie purest Heauen here is all but a Sunne or the Sunne all but a Heauen this is the onely and true Olympe If to earthlings the footstoole of God seemeth so pleasant of what worth if they could see would they hold his Throne And if the Throne bee so wonderful what is the sight of him for whom and by whom this All was created Of whose glory to behold the thousand thousand part the most pure intelligences are fully content and with wonder and delight stand amazed for the beauty of his light and the light of his beautie is incomprehensible Here doth that earnest appetite of the vnderstanding pause it selfe not seeking to know any more for it seeth before it in the vision of the diuine essence a mirror in the which not Images or shadows but the true and perfect essence of all that is is most viuely and perfectly seen all that can be knowne or vnderstood Here is the will stayed louing that Soueraigne Good in whose fruition all good consisteth and without which can be none Here is a blessed company euery one reioycing in another and filled with ioy of themselues the happinesse of one is the happinesse of the whole as the happines of the whole is the happinesse of euery one and as the company is innumerable the ioy of each one is incomprehensible No silly Mortall confined on that piece of earth who hath neuer seene but sorrow can rightly thinke of or bee capable to conceiue the happinesse of this place So many feathers moue not on Birds so many Birds cleaue not the Ayre so many leaues tremble not on Trees so many Trees grow not in the wilde Forrests so many waues turne not in the Ocean so many Sands border not those waues as this Triumphing Court hath varietie of delights and neuer loathsome pleasures Ambition Disdaine Malice Ignorance Error Difference of opinions doe not enter this place resembling the foggie mists which couer those lists of sublunary things Here is Youth without Age Strength without Weakenesse Ioy without Sorrow Light without Darkenesse Life Without End Ages doe neuer here expire Time did neuer enter All pleasure paragon'd with what is here is griefe all Mirth mourning all Beauty deformitie heere one dayes abiding is aboue the continuing in the most Fortunate estate of the Earth many yeeres and sufficient to counteruaile the extremest Torments of Life Amongst all the wonders of the great Creator not one appeareth to bee more strange replied I then that the dead should arise Nature denying a regresse from priuation to a habit Wonders said hee in a wonderfull cause are no wonders the Author of Nature is not thralled to the Lawes of Nature but worketh with them or contrary as it pleaseth him vnto whom nothing perisheth This world is as a Cabinet in which the small things though hid are nothing lesse kept then the great To him who in an instant brought all this All from nought to bring againe in an instant any thing that euer was in it to what it was once should not be thought impossible Where the power is without limitation the worke hath no other limitation then the workers Will Reason her selfe finds it more possible for infinite power to deliuer from it selfe a finit World and restore any thing in this world to what it was first though decayed and dissolued then for a finit man to change the forme of matter made to his hand The power of God neuer brought to knowledge all that it can for then were his infinit power bounded and finite That time doth approach in which the dead shall liue and the liuing bee changed and of all actions the guerdon is at hand then shall there bee an End without an End Time shall finish and Place bee altered and another World of an age Eternall and vnchangeable shall arise With the which mee thought hee vanished and I did all astonished awake FINIS

A MIDNIGHTS Trance Wherin is discoursed of DEATH the nature of SOVLES and estate of Immortalitie As it was Written at the desire of a Nobleman By W. D. LONDON Printed by George Purslow for Iohn Budge and are to be sold at the signe of the Greene-Dragon in Paules Church-yard 1619. A MIDNIGHTS Trance wherin is discoursed of Death The nature of Soules and estate of Immortalitie THough it hath beene doubted if there be in the Soule of Man such imperious and superexcellent Power as that it can by the vehement and earnest working of it deliuer knowledge to another without bodily Organs and by the only conceptions and Ideas of it produce reall effects yet it hath beene euer and of all thought infallible most certaine that it often either by outward inspiration or some secret motion of it selfe is augure of its owne Misfortunes and hath shadowes of comming Dangers presented vnto it a while before they fall forth Hence so many strange apparitions and signes true Visions Dreames most certaine vncouth languishings and drowsinesse of which to seeke a reason vnlesse from the sparkling of GOD in the Soule or from the God-like sparkles of the Soule were to make Reason vnreasonable in reasoning of things transcending her reach Hauing often and diuers times when I had giuen my selfe to rest in the quiet solitarinesse of the night found my imagination troubled with a confused feare no sorrow or Horror which interrupting sleepe did confound my senses and rouse mee vp all appalled and transported in a suddaine agony and sad amazednes of such an vnaccustomed perturbation and namelesse woe not knowing nor being able to imagine any apparant cause carried away with the streame of my then doubting thoghts I was brought to ascribe it to that secret fore-knowledg presageing Power of the Propheticke Mind and to interpret such an agonie to bee to the Spirit as a faintnes and vniuersall wearinesse is to the Body a token of following sicknesse or as the Earth-quakes are to great Cities Harbingers of greater calamities or as the roring of the Sea is in a stil calme a signe of some ensuing tempest Hereupon not thinking it strange if whatsoeuer is humane should befall me knowing how Prouidence abates griefe and discountenances crosses and that as we should not despaire of euils which may happen vs wee should not trust too much in those goods we enioy I began to turne ouer in my remembrance all that could afflict miserable mortalitie and to fore-cast euery thing that with a Maske of Horror could shew it selfe to humane eyes till in the end as by vnities and points Mathematicians are brought to great numbers and huge greatnesse after many fantasticall glāces of mankinds sorrow and those incumbrances which follow life I was brought to thinke and with amazement on the last of humane euils or as one said the last of all dreadfull and terrible things Death And why may wee not beleeue that the Soule though darkely fore-seeing and hauing secret intelligence of that sharpe diuorcement it is to haue from the body should be ouergrieued and surprised with an vncouth and vnaccustomed sorrow And at the first encounter examining their neere vnion long familiarity friendship with the great chang paine and vglines which is apprehended to bee in Death it shall not appeare to be without reason They had their beeing together parts they are of one reasonable Creature the hurting of the one is the enfeebling of the working of the other what deare contentments doth the Soule enioy by the senses They are the gates and windowes of its knowledge the Organs of its delight if it bee grieuous to an excellent Lutanist to bee long without a Lute how much more must the want of so noble an instrument bee painefull to the Soule And if two Pilgrims who haue wandred some few miles together haue a hearts griefe when they part what must the sorrow be at the parting of two so louing friends as is the Soule and Body Death is the violent estranger of acquaintance the eternall diuorcer of Marriage the rauisher of the Children from the Parents the stealer of the Parents from the Children the intomber of Fame the only cause of forgetfulnes by which men talk of them that are gon away as of so many shadows orageworn Stories It is not ouercome by pride made meeke by flattery staied by Time Wisedome saue this can preuent help any thing nor Youth nor Vertue nor Beauty can make it relent and becom partial It is the reasonles breaker off of al actions by this wee enioy no more the sweet pleasures of Earth nor behold the stately Vault of Heauen Sunne perpetually setteth Stars neuer rise vnto vs all strength by this is tane away all comlinesse defaced Glory made ignoble Honour turned into contempt This in an houre robbeth vs of what with so great toyle and care in many yeeres we haue heaped together Successions of Linages by this are cut short Kingdomes want Heires and greatest States remaine Orphanes By Death wee are exiled from this excellent City of the World it is no more a world vnto vs nor wee no more People vnto it That Death naturally is terrible to be abhorred it cannot altogether be denied it being a priuatiō of Life a not-being euery priuation being abhorred of nature and euill of it selfe yet I haue often thought that euen naturally to a minde by onely nature resolued and prepared it is more terrible in conceite then in verity and at the first glance then when well looked vpon that rather by the weaknesse of our fantasie then by what is in it and that the solemnities and shews of it did adde much more vglinesse vnto it then otherwise it hath to auerre which conclusion when I had gathered my astonished thoughts I beganne thus with my selfe If on the great Theater of this Earth amongst the numberlesse number of Men this condition were onely proper to thee and thine then vndoubtedly thou hadst reason to repine at so vniust and partiall a Law But since it is a necessity from the which neuer an age by-past hath been exempted and vnto which those which bee and so many as are to come are thralled it being as common as any the most vulgar thing to sence why shouldst thou in thy peeuish opposition take so vneuitable and familiar a chance to heart This is the broad path of mortalitie our generall home behold what millions haue trod it before thee what multitudes shall after thee with them who at that same instant runne In so vniuersall a calamity if DEATH bee one priuate complaints cannot bee heard with so many royall Palaces it is no losse to see thy poore cabin burne Shall the Heauens stay their euer-roling wheeles for what is the motion of them but the motion of a swift and euer-whirling wheele which twineth forth and againe vproleth our Life and hold still time to prolong thy miserable dayes As if they had nothing to