Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A73786
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The food of the soule: against the day of iudgement. By A. D.
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A. D.
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1624
(1624)
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STC 6161; ESTC S124430
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10,530
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54
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when it shall please the Lord to call vs to the high Star-chamber ouer our heads he may Antipelargein that is requite vs with farre more sumptuous iewels and richer ornaments making vs cohabitors with Angels and the admired paragons of all perfection let vs therefore confidently beléeue in Christ desiring him most heartily and vnfainedly to giue vs of this bread of life which is the onely restoratiue against hunger thirst Auicen like a foole said in his Aphorismes that good was the best restoratiue No no this bread of life is the most heauenly remedy against all diseases it is a poyson for vice but a life-giuing potion for vertue It is the bread of death for carnall gluttonie but it is the bread of life for spirituall hunger If thou béest famished eate of this bread and it will reuiue thée it can heale all leprosie of sinne and remoue all maladies from a sin-sicke Soule it is the Nectar of our saluation and the Lethe of our iniquities tast but once of this bread of life and thou shalt euer after loath the sugered cates and bewitching dainties of lustfull affections looke daily vpon this bread of life and thou shalt euer after hide thine eyes and stop thine eares which are now captiued vassals to behold and heare the legerdemane of humane iugling desires All Syren songs of carnall concupiscence and vices loue-lines which are now imprinted in thy brest shall be quite cancelled out after thou hast once digested inwardly and thy soule hath had an happy concoction of this bread of life it purgeth all the hidden corruption of mans folly and giueth working pils to vomit vp originall transgressions it is the present remedie for a body which lieth in a consumption of grace to tast of this bread of life within a short space by the vnspeakable hidden operation will make a blessed recouery for this languishing creature If thy soule bee hungry or thirsty behold two sacramentall riuers flowing out of the Paradise of Christs body in the one thou shalt finde this bread of life in the other this water of life tast either of them and thou shalt neuer hunger or thirst more yea the power of this bread cannot bee sufficiently declared by the tongue of the worthiest Orator Wherefore let vs onely satisfie our soules with this bread of life whose power and efficacie our dayly Orator Christ Iesus hath declared vnto vs in these words He that commeth to me shall not hunger and he that beleeueth in mee shall neuer thirst Wherefore to draw to a conclusion let vs from the bottome of our hearts desire Christ Iesus euermore to giue vs of this bread that when the glasse of our life is runne out and with the Pheniâ— we may discerne the tearme of our daies and with the Swan discouer our fatall end that it would please him to féed our hungry soules with this spirituall food this bread of life and place them at his heauenly table to satisfie themselues with this celestiall banquet yea when our breath vanisheth our eyes waxe dim and we turned out of the house-roome of this transitory world repaire vnto our doomesday house where the worms the dead mens Lawyers shall take their fées out of vs their graue clients and our bodies shal be their bread to satiate their hunger yet thou O Iesus would vouchsafe to giue vs thy body the only bread of life for to nourish our hungry soules that by the wings of a liuely faith we may fly vp to the heauens and inioy that age of vnspeakeable pleasures the eternall Father through the merits of his déerest Sonne by the scepter of his holy Spirit so rule our hearts that wée being righteous as Elias and our prayers feruent as those of Elias they may pierce the clouds and open heauen and thence bring downe this bread of life this dew of diuine grace vpon vs and satisfie our soules with this mysticall banquet of Christs body O Lord inflame our tongues with the zeale of deuotion that our prayers may be feruent and may make a swéet incense to pacifie thy wrath that thou blotting out all our vnworthinesse out of thy memory maist graciously hearken to our petitions maist grant vs this inestimable treasure the price and ransome of our soules redemption If Lyons seeke their meat of God if the Oxe know his owner the Asse his Masters crib grant vs a most carefull desire to craue this meat of our soules to wait seeke for this bread of life that we which were created by a consultation of the Deity redéemed with the pretious blood of Christ sanctified by the holy Ghost may bee partakers of this blessed bread of life and in the end and without all end sit at his heauenly table raigning together with the Trinity in the Kingdome of Heauen to which be all glory power praise and dominion both now and for euermore Amen FINIS PRAYERS FOR PRIVATE HOVSHOLDS O Lord prepare our hearts to pray O Most mightie eternall GOD who art the Creator Guider Gouernor and Preseruer of all thinges both in Heauen and Earth vouchsafe we humbly beseech thee to looke downe with the eye of pity and compassion vpon vs miserable and wretched sinners who at this time are prostrate here before thee to offer vp this our Sacrifice of Prayer and Thankesgiuing vnto thee And although we be vnworthy by reason or our manifold transgressions to present our selues before thee yet we humbly beseech thee for thy Sonne Christ Iesus our blessed Lord and Sauiours sake to accept of vs and to grant these our prayers and petitions which wee doe make vnto thee Wee render vnto thee LORD most mighty and most mercifull humble and hearty thanks for all thy blessings and thy benefits from time to time bestowed vpon vs for our Election Creation Redemption Vocation Iustification that measure of Sanctification in this life and the assured hope of Glorification in the life to come As also for our Health Wealth Peace and Prosperitie for the free passage of thy glorious Gospell for sparing vs thus long and giuing vs so large a time of Repentance as also for all other thy benefits whensoeuer or howsoeuer bestowed vpon vs We giue thee humble and harty thanks more particularly for thy gracious protection of vs this day past and deliuering vs from all the perills and dangers of the same And seeing thou hast brought and kept vs safe to this present night wee humbly beseech thee LORD to protect and keepe vs in the same watch ouer vs with thy prouidence Shelter and defend vs from all the assaults of the world the Flesh and the Deuill Keepe vs from all sinne especially from those sinnes whereto by nature we are most addicted Make vs sorrowfull for our sins past and seale vnto our hearts wee humbly beseech thee full assurance of the forgiuenesse of them in thy Sonne our Sauiour Iesus Christ Increase our faith our zeale and our knowledge and make vs dayly more and more to increase in piety and true holinesse Set a watch O Lord before the doore of our Hearts that they thinke not before the doore of our Lips that they speake not before all the parts of our body that they doe not any thing which is amisse or may breed offence Blesse vs also wee beseech thee in our calling wherein thou hast set vs prosper that which thou hast giuen vnto vs and which in thy feare wee set our hands vnto Stirre vs vp to imploy our selues faithfully religiously and industriously in our calling Giue vs all things needfull for this present life and grant that wee may so passe through things temporall that our affection by them may not bee with-drawne from things eternall These things and all other which thou knowest meet and requisite for vs wee humbly craue at thy hands in the name of thy Sonne our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ concluding these our Petitions with that forme of Prayer which himselfe hath taught vs saying Our Father which art in heauen c. Another prayer O Mercifull Lord and louing Father that of the incomprehensible riches of thy mercy towards the disobedient and lost children of Adam who seruing Satan after the blind and vnbridled lusts of the vile flesh wheâ—e caried away through sinne and ignorance to damnation hast reconciled vs to thy fauour through grace and adoption in Christ Iesus the righteous by faith and holy conuersation in whom wee are deliuered from eternall death and destruction Haue mercy vpon vs and for loue of thy sweet Sonne our Redeemer defend vs against the power of the destroyer and with thy mighty hand lift vs vp out of the filthy puddle and deathfull corruption of this abhominable world purifying our hearts with thy grace that wee being wholly inclined to thy heauenly desires may grow perfect in all holines and abounding in the good workes which thou hast prepared for thy Saints to walke in for the glorifying of thy name wee may grow an acceptable Temple for thy continuall dwelling in vs O Lord to the vnspeakeable peace and comfort and the euerlasting blisse and saluation of our soules through Christ our Sauiour Amen FINIS
of this bread of life Which by the tongues of Angels cannot be so well declared as by these our Sauiours words Hee that commeth to mee shall not hunger and he that beleeueth in me shall neuer thirst After a man hath tasted of all manner of delicate meats yea although he hath caroused new grapes in Alexanders cup and plentifully paid that daily tribute to the stomacke which the law of our nature exacteth yet that food will not satiate him for euer so that he shall neuer hunger or thirst after But this bread this bread of life hath another power and effect for he that eateth of this bread shall neuer hunger or thirst more We reade in the fourth Chapter of Mathew That man liueth not by bread onely but I say man onely liueth by this bread for this bread is the bread of heauen which giueth life vnto the world Therefore be carefull to séeke for this bread for Christ doth not forbid vs to séeke for this bread hée saith in Mathew the sixt Chapter Be not carefull what you shal eate or what you shall drinke behold the fowles of heauen they sow not neither reape nor cary into their barnes yet your heauenly Father feedeth them the Lillies doe not labour nor spin yet Salomon in all his glory was not arayed like one of these therefore take no thought saying What shall we eate or what shall we drinke or how shall we be clothed but seeke yee the Kingdome of Heauen and all these things shall bee ministred vnto you Yet in all these exemplified admonitions of our Sauiour Christ hée doth not forewarne vs to bee carelesse for séeking of this bread of life will Christ forbid vs to séeke himselfe Christ is this bread of life féede on his flesh and nourish your soules he is the oyle and lampe with which the fiue Virgins entered into the Bridegroomes chamber Hée is the Lord of life the way of life the bread of life Beléeue in this Lord come vnto this way eate of this bread you shall neuer hunger or thirst after But some man peraduenture may obiect Can bread extinguish hunger and thirst When a man is dry and thirsty he doth not vse to eate bread I answer that the Hebrewes doe vse this phrase Panem comedere pro coenare for to sup as Master Caluin héere well noteth so we say in the Lords prayer da nobis quotidianum panem giue vs our daily bread signifying all necessary things belonging to a man eate of of this bread of life and you shall not néed to say giue vs our dayly bread for you shall neuer hunger or thirst after He that commeth to mee shall not hunger Accedat ad Christum omnis anima let euery Soule come to Christ and he will refresh it I will saith he féed the hungry soule and refresh all faint hearts I am the strength of the féeble the succour of the hungry a refuge against euill weather a shadow against heat a continuall feast where all hungry and languishing soules may satisfie themselues with celestiall food O well are they and happy shall they bee which sit at this heauenly Table and eate of this blessed and spirituall meat the price and redemption of their soules Here is Manna which the children of Israel shall neuer loath the wise Ethnick mans saying vpon a feast here taketh no place Prima cratera saith he ad sitim pertinet secunda ad hilaritatem tertia ad voluptatem quarta ad insaniam The first cup belongeth to thirst the second to mirth the third to pleasure and the fourth to insobrietie But at this feast of the Soule it is quite contrary for the more thou drinkest tant o proprior es ad animae sanitatem salutatem thou art so much the néerer to the health and welfare to thy soule Calistenes said to Alexander that hee had rather carouse old graines with Diogenes in his dish then new grapes with Alexander in his cup for of all the goods quoth hee I loue not Aesculapius But whosoeeuer drinketh in this cup shall not need Aesculapius physicke for it is a present remedy and a soueraigne restoratiue against the maladies of a sinfull soule it is an excellent potion and a most wholsome purgation to expell the leprosie of a sinseared soule The precious stone Sandastra hath nothing in outward appearance but being broken it poureth forth beames like the Sunne so this bread of life hath not an outward glea of super-excellent goodnesse but tast it and then it poureth forth such admirable excellencie that thou shalt neuer hunger any more Therefore the shepheards of Christs flocke should onely féed his Lambes with this bread of life When they bee hungry they should fill them with this Bread of life They should cry vnto them alwaies Come vnto Christ and he will giue you the bread of life so that you shall neuer hunger or thirst any more The Ministers should haue a continuall cry not like the Swallowes which haue matutinum cantum a morning song or as the Grashoppers meridianum cantum a noone song or as the Owles vespertinum cantum an euening song or as the Cocks antelucanum cantum a song before morning But they should haue a morning song a noone song an euening song and a song before day-light to awake Christs slumbring shéepe to come vnto Christ and eate of this bread of life so they shall neuer hunger for this more Hee that commeth to mee shall not hunger and he that beleeueth in me shall neuer thirst To beléeue in Christ is the totall summe of all Christian Religion For our faith in the death and passion of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ is the sure foundation of our saluation Fides in Christo saith Saint Ierome est fundamentum humanae saluationis Faith in Christ is the foundation of mans saluation without this faith all our vertuous actions and good endeuours bee in vaine So saith Saint Augustine Sine fide falsa est omnis virtus without faith all vertue is in vaine Sine fid◠impossibile est placere Deo without faith it is impossible to please God Sine fide omnis labor vacuus without faith all our labour is frustrate Faith is the porter of heauen gate and not Saint Peter Hée that hath faith yea but as much as a graine of mustard séed shall be able to remoue mountains Wherefore let vs labour to get this faith which being obtained we shal not néede any other treasury let vs lay vp this iewell in our hearts which wil inrich vs euer after The Anatomists say that in the heart of man there is a little hole which hath nothing in it Whereupon a good writer saith that this little Cabinet and Cell of the heart God doth reserue for himselfe to bee a Chamber and a priuate mansion for him to dwell and kéepe therein let vs therefore bestow vpon our gratious Lord this pretious gem this excellent ornament to adorne and beautifie this inward chamber that