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	good_a	life_n	4,509	5	4.8259	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00888	The deuills banket described in foure sermons [brace], 1. The banket propounded, begunne, 2. The second seruice, 3. The breaking vp of the feast, 4. The shot or reckoning, [and] The sinners passing-bell, together with Phisicke from heauen / published by Thomas Adams ...	Adams, Thomas, fl. 1612-1653.	1614 (1614)	STC 110.5; ESTC S1413	211,558	358

better life is the soule spoiled of when sinne hath taken it captiue The Adultresse will hunt for the precious life She is ambitious and would vsurpe Gods due and claime the heart the soule Hee that doth loue her destroyeth his owne soule Which shee loues not for it selfe but for the destruction of it that all the blossomes of grace may dwindle and shrinke away as bloomes in a nipping Frost and all our comforts runne from vs as flatterers from a falling Greatnesse or as Vermine from an house on fire Nay euen both thy liues are endangered The wicked man go●●h after her as a foole to the correction of the st●ckes till a 〈◊〉 strike through his liuer as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life It is as ineuitably true of the spirituall Harlots mischiefe For the turning away of the simple shall slay them Saue my life and take my goods saith the prostrate and yeelding Traueller to the theefe But there is no mercy with this enemie the life must pay for it She is worse then that inuincible Nauy that threatned to cut the throates of all Men Women Infants but I would to God shee might goe hence againe without her errand as they did and haue as little cause to bragge of her conquests Thus haue wee discribed the Temptresse The Tempted followes who are here called the Dead There be three kindes of death corporall spirituall eternall Corporall when the body leaues this life Spirituall when the soule forsakes and is forsaken of grace Eternall when both shall be throwne into hell 1. is the seperation of the soule from the body 2. is the seperation of body and soule from grace 3. the seperation of them both from euerlasting happinesse Man hath two parts by which hee liues and two places wherein he might liue if hee obayed God Earth for a time Heauen for euer This Harlot Sin depriues either part of man in either place of true life and subiects him both to the first and second death Let vs therefore examine in these particulars first what this death is and secondly how Sathans guests the wicked may be said liable thereunto 1. Corporall death is the departure of the soule from the body whereby the body is left dead without action motion sense For the life of the body is the vnion of the soule with it For which essentiall dependance the soule is often called and taken for the life Peter said vnto him Lord why cannot I follow thee now I will lay downe my soule for thy sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soule meaning as it i● translated his life And He that findeth his soule shall loose it but hee that looseth his soule for my sake shall finde it Here the Soule is taken for the Life So that in this death there is the seperation of the soule and body the dissolution of the person the priuation of life the continuance of death for there is no possible regresse from the priuation to the habite except by the supernaturall and miraculous hand of God This is the first but not the worst death which sinn● procureth And though the speciall dea●nesse of the guests here be spirituall yet this which we call naturall may be implied may be applied for when God threatned death to Adams sinne in illo die m●ri●ris in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die yet Adam liued nine hundred and thirtie yeares after There was notwithstanding no delay no delusion of Gods decree for in ipso die in that very day death tooke hold on him and so is the Hebrew phrase dying thou shalt dye fall into a languishing and incurable consumption that shall neuer leaue thee till it bring thee to thy graue So that hee instantly dyed not by present seperation of soule and body but by mortallitie mutabillitie miserie yea by sorrow and paine as the instruments and agents of Death Thus said that Father After a man beginneth to be in this body by reason of his sinne he is euen in death The wicked then are not onely called Dead because the conscience is dead but also in respect of Gods decree whose inviolable substitution of Death to Sinne cannot be euaded auoyded It is the Satute-law decreed in the great Parliament of Heauen Statutum omnibus se●el mori It is appoynted vnto men once to die T●is is one speciall kindnesse that sinne doth vs one kisse of her lippes Shee giues her louers three mortall kisses The first kils the conscience the second the carkase the third body and soule for euer Death passed vpon all men for that all haue sinned So Paul schooles his Corinths For this cause many are wea●e and sicke among you and many sleepe And conclusiuely peccati stipendium mors The wages of sinne is Death This Death is to the wicked death indeed euen as it is in it owne full nature the curse of God the suburbes of Hell Neither is this vniust dealing with God that man should incurre the death of his body that had reiected the life of his soule nisi praecessisset in peccato mors animae numquam corporis mors in supplicio sequer●tur If sinne had not first wounded the body death could not haue killed the soule Hence saith Augustine Men shunne the death of the flesh rather then the death of the spirit that is the punishment rather then the cause of the punishment Indeed Death considered in Christ and ioyned with a good life is to Gods elect an aduantage nothing else but a bridge ouer this tempestuous sea to Paradice Gods mercy made it so saith S. Augustine Not by making death in it selfe good but an instrument of good to his This hee demonstrates by an instance As the Law is not euill when it increaseth the lust of sinners s● death is not good though it augm●nt the glory of su●ferers The wicked vse the law ill though the law be good The good die well though death be euill Hence saith Solomon The day of death is better then the day of ones birth For our death is not obitus sed abitus not a perishing but a parting Non amittitur anima praemittitur tantum The soule is not lost to the body but onely sent before it to ioy Si duriùs seponitur meliùs reponitur If the soule be painfully laid off it is ioyfully laid vp Though euery man that hath his Genesis must haue his Exodus and they that are borne must dye Yet saith Tertullian of the Saints Profectio est quam putas mo●tem Our dying on earth is but the taking our iourney to Heauen Simeon departs and that in peace In pace in pacem Death cannot be euentually hurtfull to the good for it no sooner takes away the temporall life but Christ giues eternall in the roome of it Alas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corpora cadauera Our graues shall as

the Prophet cals gracelesse an Harlots forehead that cannot blush Swearing swaggers out admonition drunkennes drinkes downe sorrow and penitence Vsurie floutes at Hell It was Epitaph'd on Pope Alexanders Tombe Iacet hîc scelus vitium Here lies wickednesse it selfe it could not bee so buried vp Hee was vile enough Thais Alexandri filia sponsa nurus Lucrece was his Daughter his Whore his Sonnes Wife Horrid that Viper went not to Hell issue-lesse What is this but Infidelitie and Atheisme though not in Antecedente yet in Consequente if not verball yet reall vnder the forme of Godlinesse an implicite renegation of the power Multi adorant Crucem exterius qui crucem spiritualem per contemptam conculcant Many superstitiously adore the Crucifixe that are enemies to the Crosse of Christ and tread his holy Blood vnder their scornefull feet Nay they are not wanting that bragge with Pherecides that they haue as much prosperitie though they neuer sacrifice as they that offer whole Hecatombes They will bee wicked if it bee for nothing else to scape the rod of affliction They make sport with the Booke of GOD as Daphias with the Delphicke Oracle who enquired of it whither hee should finde the Horse he had lost when indeed hee had none the Oracle answered inuenturum quidem sed vt eo turbatus periret that he should finde a horse but his death withall Home he is comming ioyfull that hee had deluded the Oracle but by the way he fell into the hands of the wronged King Attalus and was by his command throwne headlong from a Rock called the Horse and so perished as fabulous as you may thinke i● the Morall of it will fall heauy on the deriders of God These are the sinnes that immediately robbe God fitly called by our whorish Sorceresse Stollen waters which shall neuer be carried away without account The second sort of Stollen waters are those sinnes which mediately rob God immediately our Brethren depriuing them of some comfort or right which the inuiolable Law of God hath interrested them to for what the Law of God of Nature of Nations hath made ours cannot bee extorted from vs without Stealth and may bee euen in most strict tearmes called Stollen waters 1. Here fitly Irreuerence is serued in first a water of Stealth that robbes man of that right of honour wherewith God hath inuested him Euen Abimelech a King a Gentle King reuerenced Abraham euen stately Herod poore Iohn Baptist. Yes let reuerence be giuen to Superioritie if it be built on the bases of worthinesse and to Age if it be found in the waies of righteousnesse Indeed it should bee so that Seniores annis should be Saniores animis and praefectus perfectus that eminencie of place and of vertue should concurre that Greatnesse and Goodnesse should dwel together but the conscience of reuerence is fetch● from Gods precept not mans dignitie and therefore the omission is a robberie the neglect of honour to whom it belongs is a Stollen water The eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother doth he thinke them worthy or not the Rauens of the Valley shall picke it out and the yong Eagles eat it But alas these are those vnreuerent dayes where infoelix lolium steriles dominantur auenae ●nuectiues railings calumnies libels grow vp among sober and wholesome admonitions the same ground produceth both Hearbes and Weedes and so nourisheth both Sheepe and Serpents Terra salutiferas herbas eademque nocentes nutrit vrticae proxima saepe Rosa est The Nettle growes vp with the Rose and the Lambe must graze in the Wolfes company These are like furious Beasts that ranging for their pray and being hampered in the snares when they cannot breake loose to forrage they lie downe and roare From this foule neast haue fluttered abroad all those clamorous Bils slanderous Libels malicious Inuectiues seditious Pamphlets whence not onely good names haue beene traduced but good things abused Selfe-conceit blowes them vp with ventositie and if others thinke not as well of them as they of themselues strait like Porcupines they shoot their quils or like Cuttels vomite out Inke to trouble the waters That impudent and insolent claime is made ordinarie in these dayes With our tongue we will preuaile for our lips are our owne When the Eagle in the Ayre Panther in the Desart Dragon in the deepe Leuiathan in the Ocean are tamed yet the Tongue can no man tame it is an vnruly euill full of deadly poison It is fiered and with no weaker Fire then Hels Their hearts are Ouens heated with malice and their tongues burning peeles they are neuer drawne but there is a batch for the Deuill These are not only the Geese in the Capitall to gaggle at Statesmen in the Common-wealth but Foxes also about the Temple that if they bee seene stealing the Grapes fall a biting their descryers by the shinnes Because the Church hath not heretofore giuen some the Keyes of her Treasure nor called for them when Bishoprickes and promotions were a dealing they will indite her of incontinencie with Rome miserable sonnes to slaunder their Mother with adulterie What they would and can not doe themselues they blame in others with Corah Yee take too much vpon ye sonnes of Leui. Libels are stollen waters 2. Murder vsurpes the second roome a red Water that robbes man of his life whither they be Popish commissions to cut throates for the Whore of Babilon can drinke nothing but blood or the monstrous illuminations of the Anabaptists deriuing reuelation from the spirit of horrid murder that the brother should cut off the brothers head by a command from Heauen the Father Mother standing by Luther cals this a grosse Deuill or the sudden quarrels of our age where euidences of pusillanimitie or at best inconsiderate furie are produced as arguments of Valour A crosse word is ground enough for a challenge and what issue hath streamed from these Duells who can thinke and not quake The Land is desiled with blood not shed by an alien hand God hath beene content talem nobis auertere pestem to free vs from that plague but ciuill vnciuill broiles We fall out for feathers some lie dead in the Chanell whiles they stood too much for the wall others sacrifice their hearts blood for the loue of an Harlot Not to pledge a health is cause enough to loose health and life too Oh who shall wash our Land from these aspersions of blood Murder is but Mans-slaughter and Mans-slaughter no more then dog-slaughter Parce ciuium sanguini should be our condition of life as it is a sanction of nature to spare the blood of Citizens connaturall collateral connationall with our selues but now it is not spared sanguini vel ciuium vel sanctorum to spill the blood of either Citizens or Saints yet precious in the sight of the Lord is the

surely be Coffins to our bodies as our bodies haue beene Coffins to our soules The minde is but in bondage whiles the body holds it on earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato affirmes Of whom saith an Anthony that when hee saw one too indulgent to his flesh in high Diet he asked him What doe you meane to make your prison so strong Thus qui gloriatur in viribus corporis gloriatur in viribus carceris He that boasteth the strength of his body doth but bragge how strong the Prison is wherein he is ●ayled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The body is the disease the graue the destinie the necessitie and burden of the soule Hinc cupiunt metuuntque dolent gaudentque nec auras Respiciunt clausae tenebris et carcere caeco Feares ioyes griefes and desires mans life do share It wants no ills that in a Prison are It was a good obseruation that fell from that Stoicke Homo calamitatis fabula infaelicitatis tabula Man is a Storie of woe and a map of miserie So Mantuan Nam quid longa dies nobis nisi longa dolorum Colluvies Longi patientià carceris aetas It appeares then that Death is to the good a procurer of good Mors intermittit vitam non eripit Venit iterum qui nos in lucem r●ponat dies Their Death is but like the taking in sunder of a Clocke vvhich is pulled a pieces by the makers hand that it may bee scowred and repolished and made goe more perfectly But Death to the wicked is the second step to that infernall Vault that shall breede either an innouation of their ioyes or an addition to their sorrowes Diues for his momentanie pleasures hath insufferable paines Iudas goes from the Gallowes to the Pit Esau from his dissolution in earth to his desolation in Hell The dead are there Though the dead in soule be meant literally yet it fetcheth in the body also For as originall sinne is the originall cause of Death so actuall sinnes hasten it Men speede out a Commission of Iniquities against their owne liues So the enuious man rots his owne bones The Glutton strangles the Drunkard drownes himselfe The male-content dryes vp his blood in fretting The couetous whiles he Italionates his conscience and would Romanize his estate starues himselfe in plaine English and would hang himselfe when the Market falls but that hee is loath to be at the charges of a Halter Thus it is a Feast of Death both for the present sense and future certaintie of it The dead are there 2. Spirituall death is called the death of the soule which consisteth not in the losse of her vnderstanding and will these she can neuer loose no not in Hell but of the truth and grace of God wanting both the light of faith to direct her and the strength of Loue to incite her to goodnesse For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace The soule is the life of the body God of the soule The spirit gone vtterly from vs wee are dead And so especially are the guests of Satan dead You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sinnes And the Widdow that liueth in plea●ure is dead whiles she liueth This diuorcement and seperation made betwixt God and the soule by sinne is mors animae the death of the soule But your Iniquities haue seperated betweene you and your God But we liue by faith and that in the Sonne of God His spirit quickens vs as the soule doth a lumpe of flesh when God infuseth it Now because these termes of spirituall death are communicated both to the elect and reprobates it is not amisse to conceiue that there is a double kinde of spirituall death 1. In regard of the Subiect that dieth 2. In regard of the Obiect whereunto it dieth Spirituall death in the faithfull is three-fold 1. They are dead to Sinne. How shall wee that are dead to sinne liue any longer therein A dead nature cannot worke He that is dead to sinne cannot as hee is dead sinne Wee sinne indeede not because wee are dead to sinne but because not dead enough Would to God you were yet more dead that you might yet more liue This is called Mortification What are mortified Lustes The wicked haue mortification too but it is of grace Matth. 8. They are both ioyntly expressed Let the dead burie the dead Which Saint A●gustine expounds Let the spiritually dead bury those that are corporally dead The faithfull are dead to sinne the faithlesse are dead in sinne It is true life to bee thus dead Mortificatio concupiscentiae vi●ificatio animae so farre is the spirit quickened as the flesh is mortified So true is this Paradoxe that a Christian so farre liues as he is dead so far●e he is a Conquerour as he is conquered Vincendo se vincitur à se. By ouercomming himselfe he is ouercome of himselfe Whiles hee ouer-rules his lustes his soule rules him When the outward cold rageth with greatest violence the inward heat is more and more effectuall When Death hath killed and stilled concupiscence the heart begins to liue This warre makes our peace This life and death is wrought in vs by Christ who at one blow slew our sinnes and saued our soules Vna eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit One and the same hand gaue the wound and the cure Vulneratur concupiscentia sanatur conscientia The deadly blow to the concupiscence hath reuiued the conscience For Christ takes away as well dominandi vim as damnandi vim the dominion of sinne as the damnation of sinne He died that sinne might not raigne in our mortall body he came to destroy not onely the Deuill but the workes of the Deuill Hence if you would with the spectacles of the Scriptures reade your owne estates to God Reckon your selues to be dead indeede vnto sinne but aliue vnto God through Iesus Christ our Lord. This triall consists not in being free from lusts but in brideling them not in scaping tentation but in vanquishing it It is enough that in all these things wee are more then Conquerours through him that loued vs. 2. They are dead to the Law For I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might liue vnto God Wherein hee opposeth the Law against the Law the new against the olde the Lawe of Christ against that of Moses This accuseth the accusing condemneth the condemning Law The Papists vnderstand this of the ceremoniall Law but Paul plainely expresseth that the Law morall which would haue beene to vs a Law mor●all is put vnder wee are dead vnto it As Christ at once came ouer death and ouercame death et super it e● superat So we in him are exempted from the condemning power and killing letter of the Law and by being dead vnto it are aliue ouer it