Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	aaron_n	priest_n	usual_a	19	3	10.3217	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B07982	A direction to death: teaching man the way to die well, that being dead, he may liue euer. Made in the forme of a dialogue, for the ease and benefite of him that shall reade it. The speakers therein are Quirinus and Regulus.	Perneby, William.	1599 (1599)	STC 19766.7; ESTC S94700	255,346	516

not euer fruitles they that know this well frame themselues to die willingly for to die willinglie is a fruit of knowing they shall die once Q. But they haue more then then this knowledge to make them willing for that 's not the onelie tree whereon this fruit doth grow R. Neither did I yet say so there are many things which may moue men in sicknes to be desirous of death ere it comes and maketh them willing to die when it comes Q. I would I might bee acquainted with some of them if you will not or cannot recite all yet I beseech you reckon vp some if not the most yet the best of them that so whensoeuer death doth come I may the better know how to bidde her welcome R. To pleasure you therewith I passe not for any paine thereabout First it is Gods will pleasure and ordinance that all shall die for God created vs that we should once die no man therfore is to repugne and striue against the good pleasure of God Rom. 9.19 For who euer resisted his will the sicke mans and euerie mans dailie praier is Thy will be done in earth Mar. 6.10 as it is in heauen Why therefore should he be vnwilling to haue that thing chance vnto him for which hee dailie praies That were but a drawing neere vnto God with his lippes and a dishonouring of him with his heart And what were that but an assuring of his soule that in time he shal be despised abhorred of God for thus the Lord himselfe saith 1. Sam. 2.30 Them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shal be despised But to proceed it is naturall to die for who euer liued that hath not died who doth now or shall heereafter liue that shall not also taste of death why then should he that is sicke desire to degenerate and grow out of kind One man is willing to bee rich because an other is rich to haue wife and children because another hath so to goe trimly apparelled because another doth so c. Why should hee not also be willing to die because another doth so In this there is greater necessitie then in the others possibilitie for euerie man cannot be rich euery man cannot be braue and trim euerie man cannot haue wife and children c. but certaine it is that euery man must die his auncesters the most holy and perfit haue died why should he disdaine to follow their steppes Is hee better then Abraham Isaac and Iaakob and the rest of the Patriarkes that hee should not die Is hee wiser then Dauid and Salomon and other of the kings that hee should heere vpon earth for euer liue Is he holier then Aaron and Eleazer and other of the priests that he should escape Death is he cunninger than Nathan and Esaie and Ieremie and other of the Prophets that he should not yeeld to nature when as all these Kings Priests Prophets and Patriarches are dead why should hee grieue and grudge to die as by them hee is to learne that once hee must dye so by their example he is to gather that neuer either wisedome or holines or cunning can saue him from death If death had been only cast vpon him the burthen thereof might haue been thought somewhat the more vnrighteous and intolerable But for so much as all the forenamed haue alreadie tasted of death and all other heereafter shall there is no reason but he also shuld both willingly and patiently submit himselfe thereto for hee is heere no other than they were and all are A stranger and soiourner as all his fathers were an aliaunt and Pilgrime as all his brethren are Heere he hath no continuing citie but he is to seeke one which is to come Whiles he is heere at home in the body he is absent from the Lord. The daies of his Pilgrimage are both few and euil Nature hath giuen him but an Inne to rest in not a place to dwell in what should a straunger be vnwilling to depart hence and go home that is neither the part nor propertie of a stranger A stranger as he delights to heare frō his country when he is thence so he desires to go thither that he may for euer abide there There is his father there is his mother there are his brethren there are his kinsefolkes and acquaintance And with thē he is desirous to be As the Eagles are where the carcase is so his affection is where these are why then should he or any sicke who is no other than a stranger be vnwilling to die and lay downe his life his father his mother his brethren his kinred are all hence and in heauen Matth. 6.9 Gal. 4.26 Our Father saith he which art in heauen Ierusalem which is aboute is free and is the mother of vs all saith Paul Act. 3.21 Iesus Christ saith Peter the heauens shall conteine vntill the time that all things be restored And saith Salomon Sap. 3.1 the soules of the righteous are in the hands of God and no torment shall touch them And who would not be willing to be with them Luk. 15.18 Ruth 1.16 I will goe to my Father quoth the prodigall Intreate me not to leaue thee nor to depart from thee quoth Ruth whithersoeuer thou goest I will goe and where thou dwellest I will dwell Philip. 1.23 I desire to be dissolued to be with Christ quoth Paul And againe in another place to Barnabas he said Act. 15.36 let vs returne and visite our brethren in euery citie and see how they doe Much more may he say thus if he be wise stay heere he cannot he is mortall He may not he is miserable he shall not Vpon that condition he came in that once he should goe out It is appointed of God that all men shall once die It is appointed and therefore it cannot be altered Heb. 9.26 It is appointed of God and therefore it will not be chaunged He is God and is not chaunged his counsell shall stand and his will will be performed It is appointed of God that all men shall once die and therefore it will not be remedied but once he must die What is appointed all men must needs be appointed him As where all are expressed none are exempted so in all he must needs be comprehended I hope he will not expect to haue that graunted him which was denied Christ himselfe By how much the more he is inferiour to him in other things by so much the lesse is he like to be superiour to him in this As he was man he died because he is man he must neither grieue nor grudge to die The seruant is not greater than his Lord Ioh. 13.16 Ioh. 15.20 Matt. 10.24 Ioh. 13.13 the disciple is not aboue his maister Neither must he be aboue Christ or greater than Christ Christ is his master Christ is his Lord. As Christ therefore dyed willingly for him so should he

shall he that is sicke and that mortally bring it to be so R. By meanes Q. What meanes R. These two practises and meditations Q. By practises how R. Fower waies First by considering himselfe Secondly by considering his life Thirdly by regarding more the benefits of God that are to be enioyed after death than death it selfe Fourthly by looking vpon death in the glasse of the Gospell and not in the glasse of the law For she is not comfortable to looke vpon in the first how terrible soeuer she shewes her selfe in the last And terrible she is in the last though comfortable she be in the first Q. But will the consideration of each of these serue to arme the soule of him that is sicke against the immoderate feare of death R. I thinke no lesse I teach no lesse I know not how to perswade you lesse Q. Shew me the reason of each and I shall the better beleeue you R. Will you not beleeue else Q. I did not yet say so I speake comparatiuely not simply R. That comparatiuely then you may beleeue me if simply you will not I will endeuour to doe as much as you desire Q. So doe and I will beleeue you simply and comparatiuely R. To the purpose intended then may the consideration of the first of the fower well serue for consider he himselfe that is sick and he shall finde that his body is but a prison to his soule and his soule a prisoner in his body And why should not this arme him against all immoderate feare of death for what should he feare the breaking of his prison the freeing of his prisoner Dauid desirous of life eternall and the sight of his master cryed out Oh how long shall I liue in this prison Psal 142.7 And Paul reuoluing with himselfe the miseries that infested him in this prison cryed out Rom. 7.24 Oh wretch that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of sinne Dauid and Pauls practise should be the sickemans president His body to him is no better then Pauls and Dauids body was to them His body therefore is but a body of sinne a prison of the soule a burthen to the minde and spirit As a man of God hath said no bocardo no dungeon no sinke no puddle no pit is in any respect so euill a prison for the body as the body is of the soule For it is such a cage as stinketh in the sight of God a body of sinne is this cage of the soule And therefore he that is sicke should feare no more to goe out of it than out of a prison To feare the deliuery of the soule from prison is meere folly It is to wish a stinking lodging and a filthy cage to dwell in and euer to cary it about which is extreame misery It is to wish continuall banishment from the ioyfull realme of heauen his naturall country which is extreame madnes What man would be so foolish wretched careles mad as to wish any such matter none wise sober and in his right witts The sicke therefore vnles he will be counted foolish wretched careles and mad must neuer feare immoderately the opening of his prison and the loosening of his prisoner Now if the consideration of this first practise doth thus well serue to the fencing of the soule against al immoderate feare of death what shall wee thinke any of the rest that follow to bee of much lesse value Truly no. For going from the consideration of himselfe to the consideration of his life shall he there finde any lesse force than before Iam. 4.14 surely no for what is his life It is but a vapour that appeareth for a little time then vanisheth away What is the certaintie that he hath either of it or in it it is a meere vncertaintie Syr. 18. 8. For as Syrach saith No man hath certaine knowledge of his death His life is like the weathercocke which turneth at euery blast the waue which mounteth at euery storme the reed which boweth at euery winde but his death is like a theefe which commeth at vnwares What is the peace hee hath all his daies little or none His life is but a warfare full of continuall labour and sorrow And now what should he feare inordinarily the vanishing of a vapour the turning of a weathercocke the breaking vp of a warfare the Saints in the Apocalips say Apoc. 22.20 Come Lorde Iesu come Shorten these latter daies for thine elects sake and saue vs. Their saying should teach others what to say For as Paul saith Heb. 13.1 We haue not heere an abiding city but we seeke one to come Merily therefore should he wish and willingly cry O father of heauen Matt. 6.10 Apo. 22 20 thy kingdome come Come Lord Iesus come And not inordinately or immoderately feare the comming of that which certainly will come and necessarily must come Seneca enterpre For as Seneca saith It is but folly to feare that which connot be eschewed It may be saith he thou wilt say thou shalt dye and what matter is that saith he vpon this condition thou camest into the world that thou mightest goe out But thou shalt dye It is the law of nations that thou must restore againe what thou hast receiued Againe thou shalt dye What then thy life is but a pilgrimage When thou hast walked much and long thou must returne once againe thou shalt dye neither the first nor the last All that are dead haue gone before thee all that are liuing shall follow thee But thou shalt dye young It is the best thing that cā be to dy before thou wishest to dy While life is pleasantest death is profitablest It is then best to dye when it delighteth most to liue But once more thou shalt dye young It may be fortune takes thee from some euill if none other yet surely she takes thee from old age And what a good that is Augustine sheweth when he saith August de Catechizandis rudi When men wish vnto themselues olde age what other thing wish they but a long infirmitie Thus as you see doth Seneca harten a man against death and the feare of death And thus may any wise sicke man harten himselfe For what is death that hee should immoderately feare it August super Ioh. Saith Augustine Death is the leauing of the body and the laying downe of a grieuous burden Saith Chrysostome Death is a necessary gift of nature now corrupted Chrysost super Matt. cap. 10. which is not to be eschewed but rather embraced Saith Secundus the Philosopher to Adrian the emperour asking him what death is Death is the rich mens feare the poore mens desire And saith Chrysostom againe Chrysost homil 5. ad popul Antioch Brandm pag. 567. Eccl. 9.12 Death is a sleepe somewhat longer than vsuall For the like things happen to those that dye that doe to those that sleepe He that sleepes knowes not when hee begines