Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A10055
|
Prince Henry his second anniversary· By Daniel Price Doctor in Divinity, of his Highnesse chaplaines
|
Price, Daniel, 1581-1631.
|
1614
(1614)
|
STC 20300; ESTC S115207
|
26,364
|
50
|
pure most actiue operation the heart vnmoueable as the earth is most fruitfull and the countenance so amiable is as the heavē beautiful Goodnesse then appearing is like Adam in his innocencie it maketh the possessor to be noted and called the childe of God this character is bonae spei nūcia bonae indolis index virga disciplinae gloria cōscientiae custos famae laus naturae insignae gratiae virtutum primitiae as S. Bernard reverently collecteth the attributes Alas how is that sparke of vnderstanding the small portion of the vulgar dimmed with the mist of preiudice obscured with the Tempest of Passion that the naturall youngling wil not perceiue the things that are of God contenting himselfe with Salomons young man to reioice in his youth and let his heart cheere him to walke in the waies of his heart and in the sight of his owne eies Eccl. 11.9 but not considering that for all these things God will bring him to iudgement growing hereby to that Epidemicall case that S. Chrysostome describeth in such a one Chrys Hom. 1. ad Pop. Difficilis fallibilis vehementioribus aegens fraenis Adolescens vnfruitful thornes then choaking the good seedes of Religion and grace customable evil actions being his cōtrollers of iudgement seducers of will betrayers of vertue flatterers of vice vnderminers of courage slaues to weakenesse infection of youth madnesse of age curse of life and reproach of death Is it not a witcheraft that any should be so chained with inchantment of a momētary estate as scarce to thinke vpon the Condition which never shall haue end to satisfie the flesh a nest of wormes and to neglect the soule a Companion of Angels to desire rather to fill vp met am naturae Beaux Natures aimes of long life then mensuram gratiae Graces full measure of a good life or Coronam gloriae to attaine Glories Crowne of eternall life crooked waies base wealth false pleasures vaine hopes lying promises sweete poyson and senselesse sensuall satisfaction inticing their soules to ioy in those things whereof they will be ashamed seeing the end of those things is death Adams apple Esaus broth Iudas sop Babylons cup are more powerfull with these sonnes of disobedience then Henoks whirlewinde Eliahs Chariot Pauls assumptiō or Iohns Revelation and hereby many sweetly tempered dispositions And worthy spirits are swallowed vp led a way Captiue like the Gallant in the Proverbs who went to the house of the Harlot the way to hel going down to the chambers of death Prov 7.7 in the prime and spring comming to the fall of their leafe continuing their life in a wintry stormy Tempestuous course the surges of lust beating the ship till the sailes of pride be torne with the windes of violent passions punishing thēselues with that horrid curse Peccatū poena peccati the guilt of one sinne becommeth the punishment of another 5 I cal to witnesse against such this Princely Saint who having obtained a gracious report and received the promise is now a triumphant Chiefetaine in the army of Saints whose Scutchion bare this * In the Lottery Armory and Funerall Motto Et nos fas extera quaerere regna as if he had come into the world but to learne to die and as Israel came through the wildernesse of Sin to passe through it towardes the land of Caanan he began to seeke as the text speaketh of Iosias 2. Chr. 34.3 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the original importing not only to seek to inquire with al diligēce as Avenarius rendreth it Aven But to consult to deliberate to search with all care for any thing that pertained to the worship of God Not so to seeke as Pyrrhus ambition trained his thoughts from Macedon to Greece frō Greece to Italy Plut in vita Pyrrhi from Italy to Sicily from thence to Africke and so to Carthage it was no earthly no worldly adventure his chiefe ayme was at though so farre as the Royall rights of his Puissant Ancestors and the service to his Soveraigne Father in a iust war might haue giuen cause our vndaunted Alexander needed no encouragement for hee was so nobly furnished with all abiliments of a strong body and valiant disposition as if victorious Ioshua had revived to edge these ill dull and resty times drowsed and almost drowned in the sweet havē of Peace Peace being alienated from its own grace and become the truce of lust and rust of valour the death of the army and decay of the navie And even then when this high borne Champion the grace of the Court and hope of the Campe might haue recouered if not improved the limits of this kingdome when all good spirits not only affected but addicted themselues to honourable Martialisme expecting generally a day wherein they might heare young Caesars Venite his brandishing sword the ioy of the souldier drawne by right edged by valour might haue been attended with victorious acclamation of Conquest even then so did he season sanctifie his Martiall exercises Princely studies of arts and fortifications that hee remembred the weapons of a Christian warfare were not carnall but spirituall and howsoever in the flesh he warred not after the flesh 2. Cor. 10.3 as the blessed Apostle doth distinguish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making that holy vse of that vsefull knowledge of fortifications as that he vsed them in a spirituall sense as S. Paule counselleth to the pulling downe of strong holds to the casting downe of imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God bringing into captivity every of his thoughts to the obedience of Christ 2. Cor. 10.4 2. Cor. 10.4 5 So did hee enter combat and receaue conquest of both his enimies and himselfe and bare before him a shield which was never missed yet never pierced It was strange in S. Ieroms opinion Hieron in Ep. ad Theod. quod corpus assuetum tunicae potuit sustinere onus Loricae that the emblem of Arts the Gowne and the ornament of Armes Armour should fit one the same that so tender Courtly Princely breeding could afford so well set a soule a body as willing as able to haue endured the Laborious watching toyling fighting bleeding life of a Campe. But that which is more wonder appeared in him that the Cankers or vipers of a Courtly life Lust Pride Ambition Irreligiō never durst approch him no nor the wormes or moaths of greatnesse sloath or flatterie or vanitie ever receaue acquaintance much lesse entertainement with him All which creeping or crying sinnes bee as visible as indivisible from such Courtly places which may bee some cause that the worde aula which the Greeks translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athen. is by Athenaeus interpreted to be perflatilē ventis domum like the house in the Gospell beaten with the winds furious passion tearing or climing Ambition overturning or envious contention breaking or lustfull daliance blasting
testimonies that one of Cassiodore is enough Cass lib 5. Ep. Vltra omnes crudelitates est divitē velle fieri ex exiguitate mendici Amentur honesta lucra horreantur damnosa compendia Pudeat ab illus tollere quibus inhemur offerre It is cruelty in the abstract that anie man should grow rich by excorting from the poore honest gaine is lawfull damned rapine hatefull the extreame of shame is to take from them to whom wee are commanded to giue God heareth their cries remēbreth their sighes putteth vp their teares their complaints as darts pearce heaven The observation of S. Chrysostome is worthy that of all the blessings of our Sauiour in the Mount the blessing of inheritance is only given to the meeke Mat. 5.5 Blessed are the meek for they shall inherite the earth Which is mainely contrary to the course of the world for if meekenesse were the best fortresse for possessiō how so one would the snares and subtilties of Law-wresting vnderminers prevaile wherefore the violent Nebuchadnezars of the world by vsurpation rather then by possession retaine their seats may be said rather to inhabit then inherite the land But vnto the Godly saith God What man is he that feareth the Lorde him shall hee teach in the way that he shall choose his soule shall dwel at ease and his seed shal inherite the land Psal 24.12 Not only the meeke thēselues but their seed shal not only possesse but inherit not only the earth but the land of the living when as the vniust Intruders shall make but the spiders nest or build their houses as vpon the sands a winde will come to cast downe their Palaces to root them out of their possessions to rot their memoriall from of the earth When as they that by right righteous dealing haue enioyed the blessing of inheritance shall shine by their good works while they liue and by their good name whē they are dead as now this Gratious Glorious Triumphant Saint doth whose name shall bee had in everlasting remembrance It a in singulis virtutibus eminebat He was so eminent in every vertue to vse S. Hieroms words that with out much amplification the Apophthegmes of his own life will furnish a large discourse He was never beaten down with his owne passions but did conquer his own conquerours his anger served only to enflame his zeale height of spirit to despise the world Feare only to abstaine from sin ioy to praise God sadnesse to repent hatred to pursue vice loue to ensue vertue so his passions being subdued as Rebels were singular helps in the exercise of vertue And for himselfe and his worthy followers the words of Hierome of Nepotiā will fitly serue the close of this discourse Domus eius conversatio magistra erat publicae disciplinae Hier. his owne Princely conversation the course of his house was a mistresse or rather a mirrour of publike discipline the modell of a wel-managed state Mars Minerva dwelt in his Palace which in it selfe was a second Paradise Religiō was of his privy chamber and vertue a great officer in his house knowledge was a companion with him good inclinations had breeding here and good men preferment and his Countenāce did change the face of the times But as Cestius in Seneca spake of Altius Flavius Senec. Lib. 2. Cont. con 1. Tāmaturè magnum ingentum non esse vitabo it proved to bee a fatall Truth in him that so great a spirit so soone to appeare was a prodigious signe of the losse which ensued by the end of his life such an Epiphany was the speedy forerunner of his mortality No preuentiō could stay the wheele running at the Cesterne of his life his daies were numbred the stealing steps and insensible degrees of death did approach even like the sunne which maintaineth a very swift motion yet doth not the eie perceiue it to moue Death the Tyraunt exercised his rage with the greatest cruelty vpon this Princely subiect and suddenly cropt of this fairest of Natures flowers and overthrew him in the Principall strength and beauty of his age at which blow the world staggred being old and nought it feared the date of its owne dissolution All naturall things must encrease and decline the sunne shal end the course consume heaven shall be wrapped vp as a scrowle and the starres shall fall Psal Death doth restraine the spirit of Princes and is wonderfull among the sonnes of the earth It was the last lesson that ever this excellent Prince was publikely taught that though cōmon mē dare not be acquainted with kings yet death is more commonly boistrous and more violent with kings then other men Of all the kings of Iudah frō Rhehoboam downe to Zedekiah there were in number twenty and six of thē that is almost a third part slaine of the kings of Israel from Ieroboam to Oshea there were also in number twenty and ten of them a iust halfe slaine yea looke into our owne stories and our English Chronicles are all bloudy from the Conquest downward of three twenty deceased eight which is more then a third part slaine wherevpon the * M. Wilkinson who preached at S. Iames that day his Highnesse sickned Reverend Preacher cōcluded it were a most fearefull thing amongst the common sort of men if one in every three were subiect to such violent death But Death durst not come with such violence nor so rudely intrude into this Princely Sanctuary it came in by stealth yet being entred it severely did exact obedience it expugned all desences against it vndermining all Physicke was not content with bloud but cōmands life when Natures frame seemed firme and a countenance of cōtinuance appeared in this Divine Prince Death led him into the vnavoidable passage of the farthest fairest path of nature kept him 13. daies in this Labyrinth In which time dayly changing daily dying HE though entangled in the snares of disease yet avoided the snakes of distrust or distemper with a noble Courage like the sunne did shew greatest countenance in this lowest state and with a braue yet blessed behaviour in contempt of death gaue a grace to the greatest extremities the Tyraunt could devise for whē the Tragické Monster stopt his breath closed his eies drewe the curtaines the Princely soule tooke wing and with troupes of Angels fled to heaven It is not without warrant O Death that God disclaimeth any interest in thee thou Infernall yet Imperiall Commander he hath pronounced by the mouth of the wisemā that he never made thee but that thou hadst thine entry into the world by the very malice and subtiltie of the Divell Wisd 1.13.2.24 Hast thou hurried about the world and compassed the whole earth to and fro and hast thou considered Great Henry who was perfect and vpright one that feared God and eschewed evill and hast thou privily shot at him that was true of heart Cursed