Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	age_n	life_n	old_a	5,148	5	5.6715	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42886	The instruction of youth in Christian piety taken out of the sacred Scriptures, and Holy Fathers; divided into five parts. With a very profitable instruction for meditation, or mental prayer. By Charles Gobinet, Doctor of Divinity, of the House and Society of Sorbon, principal of the College of Plessis-Sorbon. The last edition in French, now render'd into English.; Instruction de la jeunesse en la piété chrétienne. English.	Gobinet, Charles, 1614-1690.	1687 (1687)	Wing G904D; ESTC R217420	333,500	593

for it And the Second Council of Orange teaches us that even b Adjutorium Dei etiam renatis sanctis semper est implorandum ut ad finem bonum pervenire vel in bono possint opere perd rare Concil Arausic c. 10. the Faithful and Saints ought always to implore the Divine Assistance that they may arrive at a good End or persevere in good Works O Theotime how happy would you be if having begun to serve God in your tender Years you have a care to say with David all your Life O God Deus docuisti me à juventute mea usque nunc pronuntiabo mirabilia tua Et usque in senectam senium ne derelinquas me Psal 70. thou hast taught me from my Youth and even until now will I declare thy Wonders and until my old and decrepid Age O God depart not from me After all this my dear Reader remember that Life passes Death advances Eternity approaches Life is but a Moment and on this Moment depends Eternity O Moment O Eternity Let us at least employ this Moment to serve our Creator who deserves an Eternity of Service Let us Consecrate our selves during this mortal Life to that adorable Goodness who gives himself fully to us for all Eternity Let nothing be able to sep●rate us from his Service Quis nos separabit à charitate Christi● Rom. 8. Who shall sepa●ate us from the Charity of Jesus Christ says the Divine Apostle O God permit it not but cause by thy Divine Bounty that our Hearts be inseparably united unto thee and that performing thy Will in all things we may love thee perseveringly in this Life to love adore and bless thee for ever in Heaven where thou livest and reignest world without end Amen A TREATISE OF MEDITATION OR MENTAL PRAYER To be added to the Book of the Instruction of Youth I Present you here dear Theotime with this small Instruction as an important Piece which I thought was wanting in that I gave you before I conceiv'd that this Subject ought to have been Treated there even from the time I compos'd that Book but the fear I had that it would not be well receiv'd made me then be silent supposing perhaps that you as many others might be prevented with this false Persuasion That Meditation is not the Exercise of young People that it ought to be of those already arriv'd at a perfect Age and also of a high Spirit and that it is only good for Religious Persons or for those of great Devotion in the World. Upon this Thought I conceiv'd it fitting to defer it and in the mean time observe what use you made of the Book and what Blessing God would be pleas'd to lay upon it Seeing then the Success which by the Divine Goodness it hath had and that its apparent Benefit oblig'd me to repeat the Edition I could stay no longer from presenting you with a Practice of such importance without which not only all this Book but also all the Instructions you shall receive in your whole Life may become unprofitable Entertain then this Doctrin with Love and altho' it be plac'd at the end of the Book yet for that reason read it not last because it may help you to reap a Profit by reading all that is taught in this Book ARTICLE I. What is it to Meditate It is not that which the generality of Men imagin who conceive that Meditation is a high Speculation of sublime things that has no other end than to acquire elevated Thoughts and Knowledges which others have not wherein they are notably deceiv'd Meditation doth not consist in high Thoughts but in those which are good and wholsom nor only in pious Thoughts but in holy Affections which spring from thence as to hate Sin to love God to fear his Judgments and in the Resolutions which are made in consequence of these Thoughts and Affections So that to Meditate is to apply ones Mind attentively to consider the Truths of Salvation to stir up ones self to love them and resolve to practise them Now that you may have a just Idea of Meditation it may be defin'd in these Terms Meditation is a serious and frequent Reflection which is made in the Presence of God and by the assistance of his Grace upon the Truths of Salvation to know them perfectly to love them and to put them in practice Observe well this Definition and consider each Word because there is not one which hath not its Sense and Signification which you will yet understand better by the following Articles and particularly by the Ninth ARTICLE II. That without Meditating it is hard to effect our Salvation This Truth follows from the former Definition For if Meditation be nothing else but a frequent and serious Reflection upon the Truths of Salvation to know them to love them and to practise them it is certain that it is a thing also difficult to effect ones Salvation without Meditating as it is hard to practise the Truths of the same Salvation without loving them and to love them without knowing them and to know them without thinking seriously and frequently on them which is that which we call Meditating and without often demanding of God the Grace to know them to love them and to practise them which is obtain'd principally by Prayer The Scripture for this reason attributes the frequent loss of the Salvation of Men and corruption of Manners to the want of Reflection Desolatione desolata est terra quia non est qui recogitet corde The Earth is all replenish'd with Desolation because there is no Person who revolves in his Heart the Truths of Salvation Weigh well this Verity which is most certain and which will be yet more setled in you by what follows ARTICLE III. That Meditation is not an Invention of Man but of God. They who fly Meditation imagin that it is a small Practice of Devotion only invented by Men but they are grosly deceiv'd it being a certain thing that God is the first and principal Author of it As soon as he had given the Law to his People he caus'd the continual Meditating on it to be chiefly recommended to them * Eruntque verba haec quae praecipio tibi hodie in corde tuo narrabis filiis tuis meditaberis sedens in domo tua ambulans in itinere dormiens consurgens ligabis ea quasi signum in manu tua eruntque movebuntur inter oculos tuos scribesque ea limine ostiis domus tuae Deut. 6. The things which I have order'd to day shall continue in your Heart you shall teach them to your Children and you shall meditate on them whether sitting in your House or walking on the Way lying down or rising up you shall have them always in your Hands and before your Eyes And a little after * Poni te haec verba in cordibus animis vestris suspendite ea pro

Dan. 13. like to him whom Daniel calls by that Name Inveterate dierum malorum O thou that ard old in a wicked Life and that the hasten'd Death of the Just who dy'd in the Flower of his Age condemns as the Wise-man says * Condemnat autem justus mortuus vivos impios juventus celerius consummata longam vitam injusti Sap. 4. Sicut vita mala quanto magis fuerit prolongata tanto magis delinquentibus multiplicat poenam sic vita bona quamvis hic brevi tempore terminata sempiternam conquirit bene viventibus gloriam Vita igitur mala immaturos acerbosque senes demergit in Tartarum vita verò bona defunctos juvenes maturos perducit ad regnum S. Fulgen. Epist 2. cap. 3. the long Life of the Wicked Because this is made worthy of Heaven in a small time he liv'd and the long life of those who serv'd only to multiply their Crimes and encrease their Damnation But I say that it is also most true that many die in Youth in punishment of their Sins and that the Sins of that Age advance the Death of many The Scripture expresly shews this in many places it alledges a vast number of Examples and daily Experience makes it appear most evident Job speaking of the Wicked says that * Antequam dies ejus impleantur peribit manus ejus arescent laedetur quasi vinea in primo flore botrus ejus quasi oliva projiciens florem suum Job 23. Ver. 3 2. He shall perish before the number of his Days be accomplish'd and shall be like a Bunch of Grapes which a blasting Wind nips in its Flower or like an Olive whose Bud breaking forth is strucken with a Tempest Solomon in his Proverbs says Timor Domini apponet dies anni impiorum breviabuntur Prov. 10. v. 25. Quasi tempestas transiens non erit impius v. 2. ibid. The Years of the Wicked shall be shortned and the Sinner shall be like a Storm which passeth in a moment * Ne impie agas multum noli esse stultus ne moriaris in tempore non tuo Eccl. 7. In his Ecclesiastes Chap. 7. he admonishes you to have a care not to abandon your self to Sin nor to be of the number of the Unwise that is of Sinners lest you should die in a time not design'd for you that is sooner than you should have done according to the natural Course of your Life And in the Eighth Chapter he desires by a just Indignation Non sit bonum impio nec prolongentur dies ejus sed quasi umbra transeant qui non timent faciem Domini Eccl. 6. that the Wicked should receive no Good nor his Days be prolong'd and that all those who have no Fear nor Respect for the Majesty of the All-seeing God and who are so bold as to offend him before his Face and in his Presence should pass like a Shadow which hath no substance and which perisheth in a moment All these Expressions are clear in Scripture and the Effects are there yet more evident See the Examples we have brought in the precedent Chapter in the Persons of Ochosias Amon Joachim and Sedecias In the Sixth Chapter in the Persons of the Children of Juda and Heli and in that of Amnon and Absolom And altho' we had no other Proofs of this Verity the Examples we daily see do but discover it too clearly How many young People do we see die some by a burning Fever or such like Malady Others in a Quarrel or some wicked Encounter Others in Duels which now reign so freely Others kill'd in War Others by certain dreadful and unexpected Accidents All these Deaths which are but too frequent are the Effects of the Divine Anger against young People who contemn his Favours and refuse to Serve him in the Time wherein they are oblig'd to it O Theotime have a dread lest these Punishments should befall you ARTICLE II. The Second Evil which springs from Sins committed in Youth Blindness of Mind and Obdurateness in Vice. Corporal Death is not the only nor the saddest Effect of the Sins of Youth that which they cause in the Soul by interiour Blindness and Obdurateness in Evil into which they cast her are no less common yet far more deplorable and dreadful a Super mortuum plora defecit enim lux ejus super fatuum plora defecit enim sensus Eccl. 22. Luctus mortui septem dies fatui autem impii omnes dies vitae illorum We must lament the Dead says the Wise-man because he loseth the light but we must lament a Sinner because he hath lost his Judgment The Sorrow for the Dead ought to continue but Seven Days that is a small time but we must lament a Sinner all the space of his Life For how can we consider without Tears and Sorrow so great and universal a Misfortune which we see in many young People whom the Sins of their Youth bring to a prodigious Obdurateness which abandons them to Vice without any restraint b Obdurateness of Youth in Vice. The multitude of those is innumerable who after having spent the prime time of their Youth in the Disorders of Sin and principally in those of Impurity become insensible of their Salvation blind in their proper Interest obdurate in Evil contemning the most wholsom Admonitions glorying in their Iniquities scoffing at all the Good they see perform'd by others and having no other thought than to take their Pleasures and follow all the Motions of their deprav'd Inclinations running thus blindly on their Perdition so that nothing is able to withhold them O Theotime is not this a deplorable Misfortune But I wish to God it were not so frequent as it is great S. Augustin had notably experienc'd it in his own Person as he himself reports in his Confessions where he deplores his Misfortune with Words which are able to move the hardest Hearts and which deserve to be here cited at length to teach young People how they ought to fear the misfortunate Effect of the Sins of Youth * Exhalabantur nebulae de limosa concupiscentiâ carnis scatebra pravitatis obnubilabant atque offascabant cor meum ut non discerneretur serenitas dilecsionis à caligine libidinis Utrumque in confuso aestuabat rapiebat imbecillam aetatem per abrupta cupiditatum atque mersabar gurgite flagitiorum Lib. 2. Conf. cap. 2. That lascivious Concupiscence of the Flesh and boiling of my Youthful Blood exhal'd such Clouds into my Mind that they overspread it with great obscurities and in such a manner cast a Mist over it that it could not discern the Serenity of chast Love from the Darkness of impure Lust Both of these raising turbulent Motions in me dragg'd my frail Youth into the Precipice of all sort of Concupiscence and plung'd it into the Gulf of Wickedness And afterwards he adds Obsurdueram stridore

long time For in the Ninth Year of his Reign the City of Jerusalem was Besieg'd by Nabuchadonosor King of Babylon and after Two Years Siege it was Taken Sackt and put to Fire and Sword the Temple Ransackt and Burnt those of the People who had escap'd the fury of the Sword or Famine were sent into Captivity And he flying with his Children was taken and brought before the proud King who after having receiv'd him with Expressions of Fury and Indignation caused his Childrens Throats to be cut before his Face and afterwards pull'd out his Eyes and made him be sent Captive into Babylon where he dy'd miserably undergoing the just Punishment of his Iniquities We must add to these Examples those which we have recounted in the Sixth Chapter being that all those of whom we spoke in that place are dead in their Sins and by Sins begun in their Youth These Examples are very common in Sacred Scripture the contrary are there very rare and as I have said we shall find but one only in the Old Testament who was truly Converted after he had liv'd wickedly in his Youth viz. Manasses and that by so strange a Means that it manifests more clear than Day the dreadful Difficulty with which one Corrects the wicked Inclinations of his younger Years This Prince having lost his Father Ezechias 4 Reg. 21. one of the most pious Kings of Juda at the Age of Twelve Years was Inheritor of his Crown but not of his Vertues For blotting out of his Mind presently the holy Examples and wise Documents he had receiv'd from him he addicts himself to all sorts of Vices and Impieties such as the Scripture recounts His Iniquities went on encreasing until the Fifteenth or according to others till the Two and twentieth Year of his Reign wherein God sent him an extreme Affliction He was taken by the Assyrians in the City of Jerusalem sent Captive into Babylon loaden with Irons and Chains cast into a frightful Prison where he was daily afflicted with a vast number of Miseries and Persecutions Being reduc'd to this extremity of Misery he began to open his Eyes and call upon him in his Afflictions whom he had forgotten in his Prosperity He acknowledg'd his Iniquities and begg'd Pardon for them with a truly contrite Heart and by the force of Tears and Prayers obtain'd from God his Deliverance After which he did Penance for his Sins and liv'd in Holiness all the remainder of his Life even to the Age of Sixty seven when he dy'd St. Jerom adds to this History a very remarkable Particularity which he took out of the Tradition of the Hebrews For Explicating what the Scripture says in general Terms * Qui posteaquam coangustatus est oravit Dominum Deum suum Hieron in ques Heb. in Paral. That Manasses being opprest with Affliction had recourse to God he saith that it was in the Extremity of a frightful Death to which he was expos'd He should have been put to Death in a great brazen Vessel pierc'd with many Holes set upon a hot Fire which heating the Vessel and penetrating it on every side should consume that miserable Prince by its Flames by so much the more cruel as it was tedious in duration He was shut up in this Vessel and the Fire kindled under him In this dreadful Representation of Death this misfortunate Prince apply'd not himself to God but first to the Idols which he had ador'd so strangely was he blinded with his former Sins But when he perceiv'd that it was to no end to invoke their Assistance he call'd to mind a Sentence of the Sacred Scripture which he had often heard from his Father in his Youth by which God promis'd his Succours * Dum quaesi eris Dominum Deum tuum invenies eum si tamen t●●o corde quae ieris tota tribulatione animae tuae Deut. 4. to those who had recourse to him in their Tribulations and converted themselves to him with all their Heart and had a great Sorrow for their Sins He presently raises his Heart to God with Sighs and Lamentations and begs of him his Deliverance with such a Contrition for his Sins that God shew'd him Mercy and not only deliver'd him from that frightful Death but from his Slavery and made him return to Jerusalem where he spent the rest of his Life after the manner I have already touch'd See here Theotime a Conversion after a wicked Life of Youth but a Conversion purchas'd at a dear Rate CHAP. XIII Of the great Evils which spring from the wicked Life of Youth THE greatest of Evils is that whereof we speak Tenth Motive which obliges young People to Vertue viz. The loss of Salvation and Eternal Ruine which befalls many by the Sins of their Youth it being certain that Sins committed in that Age are the original Cause of Damnation to many But besides that there are many others issuing from the same Fountain which are necessary to be known dear Theotime to the end that knowing them you may conceive a greater horror of the Cause which produces them ARTICLE I. The first Evil viz. Death which the Sins of Youth hasten to very many I put in the first place Death hasten'd which happens to many young Persons in punishment of their Sins I do not mean that all those who die in the Flower of their Age die in punishment of the Sins they have committed nor also that all those who follow Vice in their Youth should be punish'd with an untimely Death I know very well that the Pious sometimes depart in the prime of their Youth and that this Death is a Recompence of their Vertue and an Effect of the Love God bears them according to that Testimony of the Sacred Scripture in the Book of Wisdom If the Just says the Wiseman Justus si morte praeoccupatus fuerit in refrigerio erit placens Deo factus dilectus vivens inter peccatores transsatus est Raptus est ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus ne fictio deciperet animam illius facinatio enim nugacitatis obscurat bona inconstantia concupiscentiae transvertit sensum sine malitia consummatus in brevi explevit tempora multa placita enimerat Deo anima illius propter hoc properavit Dominus educere illum de medio iniquitatum Sap. 4. be prevented by Death he will find therein Repose and Salvation his Vertue having render'd him agreeable to God made him purchase his Love and merit to be taken out of this World where he liv'd amongst Sinners God withdrew him betimes lest Corruption should slip into his Mind and his Soul be deceiv'd with the false appearance of the Vanity and Pleasures of the World which delude Men and make them love those things which are most opposite to their Salvation I know also very well that there are many Sinners who live a long time and who grow old in the Vices they had contracted in their Youth