Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	judgement_n	soul_n	6,710	5	5.2660	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01347	The mourning of Mount Libanon: or, The temples teares A sermon preached at Hodsocke, the 20. day of December, anno Domini, 1627. In commemoration of the right honourable and religious lady, the Lady Frances Clifton, daughter to the Right Honourable the Earle of Cumberland: and wife to the truly noble Sir Geruas Clifton of Clifton, in the county of Nottingham, Knight and Baronet, who deceased the 20. Nouember, 1627. By William Fuller Doctor of Diuinity, one of his Maiesties chapleines in ordinary.	Fuller, William, 1579 or 80-1659.	1628 (1628)	STC 11468; ESTC S102826	23,698	50

is done and what should be done as is betwixt contemplation and practise the one liuing in politiâ Platonis the other in faece Romult they are but in a dreame that conceiue a common wealth without corruption a Church without errour or a man without passion It is an easie matter for one in health and plenty to crie shame on him that is distracted with payne and care and for the wanton on his couch to disesteeme the soldier in his tent because not more hardy both in cold and danger when tu si hic esses change but the condition of the parties and the case is altered A publicke losse is a generall sorrow to the bewayling whereof the greatest expression is required a teare is not held sufficient where there should be an inundation nor a sigh where howling Rachel in child-birth called her sonne of which she died ben-oni the sonne of sorrow Naomi biddeth her friends call her no more Naomi that is beautifull but Mara that is bitternesse out of the sence of her misery but Phineas his wife had iust cause to name her sonne Ichobod that is where is glory because the glory was departed from Israel for the Arke of the Lord was taken O that my head were full of waters and mine eyes a fountayne of teares to weepe day and night for the slaine of the daughter of my people sayd the Prophet Ieremy and thence it was that our Prophet in the chapter following would haue the mourning of Ierusalem like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon yet not euery family apart and their wiues apart as it there followeth but their forces ioyned both of teares and shrikings to mooue heauen to pitty and earth to imitate Abyssus abyssum inuocat one depth calleth for another great sinnes must haue great repentance and great iudgements great acknowledgement Mine eyes doe fayle with teares my bowels swell my liuer is powred vpon the earth for the destruction of the daughter of my people because the children and sucklings faint in the streets of the city and say to their mothers where is bread and drinke as the Prophet complayneth although reason and religion should forbid yet nature and necessity wou'd inforce a howling Yet is not all this a note of distrust of Gods prouidence but a manifestation that we are sensible of his iustice and our demerits Quid miraris quod Maria dolebat tuno cum ipse Dominus flebat It is no maruell if Mary greeued when as her Lord himselfe wept not as bewayling the dead man whom hee presently intended both to rayse and to recouer but the dead mans sinne which had attracted death for punishment Sicut mors animae praecessit deserente Deo sic mors corporis secuta est deserente animâ Thus then in all sorrow this is the highest note Woe vnto vs that we haue sinned The death of the soule was first when God forsooke it and the death of the body soone followed the soule forsaking it in condigne recompence Whence in the truth of iudgement the iust causes of extreme sorrow in a man are vel cum ipse vel cum proximus offendit Deum when either himselfe or some other offend his God And though a man may seeke yet shall hee neuer finde any true cause like vnto this Which caused Anselmus to phrase it in these termes when I consider the multitude of mine offences I shame to liue I feare to die then what remayneth ô sinner in thy whole life but only vt ipsa tota se ploret totam to bewayle thy whole life so washing as Saint Bernard speaketh the barrennesse of his soule with the floods of teares quia magis frugiferae lacrymantes vineae the bleeding vines for the most part are most fruitfull And yet in this we must not sorrow as men without hope for with God there is mercy that hee might be feared maiores motus impediunt minores the greater wheeles doe hinder the lessers motion and the sonne of God the sinnes of man Subordinate powers hauing but limited authority mooued from aboue as is the inferiour by the higher orbe the proconsull can doe nothing but what the Consull pleaseth either to command or to permit as praesumptio superbiae de proprio ingenio is a course held without carde or compasse a mans owne works being a weak staffe to leane vpon And so I see not how a Romanist should die comfortably yet praesumptio confidentiae de diuino adiutorio is the pole that cannot alter and so I see not how a true Christian should die desperatly Most excellent is the counsell which the Chancellour of Paris giueth Before thou sinnest thinke of diuine iustice and thou wilt abstayne when thou hast sinned thinke of diuine mercy and thou wilt not despayre Sícque ponderent suam negligentiam vt praeponderent Dei infinitam clementiam So weighing our owne negligence with the counterpoyse of Christs indulgence It is a subtle question that is made by Denise out of Bonauenture whether it bee possible that contrition for sinne can exceed the measure of duty or we be more penitent then there is occasion it being a rule that as much as the presence of any good is to bee beloued so much the absence of it is to be lamented but God and his grace cannot be too much in one kinde therefore neither the losse in the other Certainely me thinkes for answer quoad displicentiam rationis in eye of reason if wee goe no further after sinne we may weepe and dispayre dispayre and die for how should infinite sinnes expect any but infinite punishment but quoad desperationem fidei in the apprehension of faith we may be comforted for that is the euidence of things not seene whence Christians are called fideles not rationales And it is contrition not attrition as the Schoole distinguisheth that affoords vs comfort Doleat sed ex fide doleat saith Saint Augustine Hence it is Hector Pintus his obseruation commenting vpon Ezekiel yet borrowing it from Aquinas that if it were reuealed to any one that hee were a reprobate to be condemned that man were bound to esteeme of it not as diuine reuelation but a diabolicall illusion Nay if God himselfe should speake it it were to be interpreted with an exception of repentance And in the 33. of that Prophet verse 14. 15. it is made manifest Gods blessings pronounced in the present tense doe intend praesentiam extensam an act without backsliding continuing to our liues endings and his iudgements threatned are not absolute but conditionall if wee repent not God can easily stay his hand could we as willingly amend our liues If wee doe suruey the booke of God euery word that is vsed to insinuate his mercy will bee found effectuall For consider sinne as the bondage to Sathan redimitur it is redeemed as the spoyle of grace tegitur

minor non sit betwixt foule crimes and superficiall mourning there is no due proportion Dauid could do no lesse then water his couch with the teares of his complaint and make them his bread day and night considering his transgressions For hee must of necessity haue sorrow for them that expecteth pardon of them reioycing that he can sorrow and sorrowing if he repents that sorrow weeping because he cannot weep and that much more because he can weepe no more And all this not impatienter habitus sed desiderio susceptus not imposed by necessity but assumed by desire as knowing that repentance is the super sedeas that dischargeth sinne making God to bee mercifull angels to be ioyfull man to be acceptable an heauenly gift an admirable vertue ouerruling the rigour of Gods iustice and the force of Law whose validity consisteth mente non tempore not in length of time but in true sincerity Euen at the last gaspe cum iam anima festi●et ad exitum when the soule laboureth for passage and almost ceaseth to informe the body the eares of the Lord are open to the cries of his people as no sinne so great but may be pardoned so no time heere so late but may be accepted Neyther the faults greatnesse the liues wickednesse the houres shortnesse if there be true contrition true conuersion exclude from pardon Et ideo vlulat abies and therfore in the first kind Gods seruant mourneth Nor is he weeping for himselfe alone but lendeth a groane for anothers misery of all passions compassion is the best because it hath a fellow feeling of a brothers griefe eyther by a secret sympathy participating with his losse for misericordia dicitur quasi miserum cor habens quia alterius miseriam quasi suam reputat mercy hath her denomination from participation or fearing that in himselfe which hee seeth in others As the good old Father that hearing of his friends sinne cried out ille heri ego bodie hee yesterday and I to day Particular accidents much more publike ruines will wring pitty from any but a Nero that could sit and sing at Romes burning it being held a shame to an Athenian much more to a Christian neuer to haue beene in the Academic of Philosophers nor in the temple of mercy It is an obseruation that the doores of the Tabernacle which is called the holy of holyest was of Oliue the hieroglyphicke of mercy but the gates of hell of brasse and iron the signes of hard hearts and instruments of destruction to shew that the way to heauen was by pitty and to hell by inhumanity And therefore that act of Licinius the tyrant was strange to forbid mercy to Christians vpon pain of the same calamity to bee inflicted vpon them that should dare to shew it as was in those happy wretches that were to receiue it Miserable man that hee was as if he could hinder Gods Saints from suffering with them that dayly suffer in them Malice armed with power may hinder that we cannot bee as Iob said he was eyes to the blinde and feet to the lame which is the mercy of consolation Yet can it not hinder the teares and prayers of Samuel for Saul and Moses for the people which is the mercy of intercession In a word they will maugre all opposition reioyce with them that reioyce and weepe with them that weepe being of like affection one towards another and sic vlulat abies Thus the firre tree mourneth Nor thus only for the desire of the soule is neuer satisfied vntill it commeth to the end it aymeth at a maine argument for the resurrection say the Schoolmen which can neuer be vntill Christs second comming that the dead body by the reioyning of the blessed soule be reinformed So Saints in the Church militant vpon consideration of the future perfection and the present vanity in despite of nature grone vntill they be dissolued and the number of Gods elect may be hastened It is onely ignorance that maketh vs dote vpon earth and dissolutio continui that is so troublesome fayth and reason striue against it Egredere anima mea quid dubitas septuaginta prope annis seruîsti Deo iam mori times sayd old Hilarion Goe out my soule why doubtest thou seuenty yeeres almost hast thou serued God and fearest thou now to die in the vpshot And Platoes scholers out of iudgement as they thought offered themselues violence so to compasse immortality which was all one to desire to come to the end of the race and to run a course quite contrary But the mortified members of Christ that tarry the Lords leysure do ioyne with the creatures that groane and trauell in payne vnto this present wayting when the sonne of God shall be reuealed and the Saints in heauen pray continually for hastning that number whilest the spirit it selfe maketh it a request with sighes that cannot be expressed The bride too crieth come Lord Iesu come quickly There is recorded in holy Writ a threefold longing of the faythfull first to dwell continually although but as a doorekeeper in the house of the Lord secondly to be deliuered from the body of sin Lastly to be dissolued and to bee with Christ Howsoeuer the parting of soule and body is harsh to nature yet future happinesse as one that drinketh a bitter potion to procure his health biddeth present sorrow welcome A wise man cheerefully holdeth out his arme willing the Chyrurgion lance and spare no● when that way and no other the cure is certayne Eius est mortem timere c. Hee should onely tremble at the name of death that will not goe to Christ and he only be vnwilling to go to him that despayreth of reigning with him for the whole life of a good Christian is nothing else but a continued desire of dissolution My soule thirsteth for God when shall I come and appeare before the presence of God sayd the Psalmist Christ is my life and death aduantage saith the Apostle Then what haue we to doe with this light for whom a light neuer eclipsed with any darknesse is in reuersion sayd S. Cyprian And that of Ignatius going to martyrdome is a speech most excellent Being exercised with iniuries sayd hee I am made wise though not iustified by them O how I wish for your wilde beasts how I would flatter them to deuour me and if they will not I will compell them Pardon me I know what is good now I begin to be Christs disciple I regard neyther things visible nor inuisible neither fire nor crosse let the fury of beasts the breaking of bones the conuulsion of members the destruction of the whole body and all the torments that Satan himselfe can impose rush vpon me modo Iesum Christum acquiram so I may gayne my Sauiour A quiet death is the vsuall symptome of an honest

life humane fraylty euen then striuing to accord with Gods iust pleasure But hee is a man after Gods heart that liueth in a kinde of payne and d●eth with desire and comfort as one that seeth worldly vanity knoweth the future reward and thirsteth for the accomplishment as the Hart doeth after the riuers of water life being to him as irkesome as death to others such a one non patienter moritu● sed patienter viuit delectabiliter moritus sayd S. Augustine speaking of S. Pauls desire of dissolution Should the hand of diuine bounty conferre vpon me all the contentments the world so aspireth to did the spheres ioyne with the elements to make me happy yet there is nothing in the earth that I desire but him nor any thing in the whole heauens that I desire in comparison of him omnino me non satiaret Deus nisi promitteret semetipsum Deum God himselfe could not satisfie my ambition except he gaue himselfe vnto mee Beauty is not ague proofe wealth will leaue mee or I must leaue it honor must borrow poore mens eies to see its excellency Earth sea and ayre are but creatures and so by consequence both vayne and corruptible But God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is and was and is to come in whose presence is ioy for euermore It is no maruell then si ululet abies if this be reckoned among the firre trees mournings But these three are voluntarily assumed there is a fourth the more both shame and pitty by necessity imposed in which the reasonable man is more brutish then the vnreasonable beast O the detestable cruelty of humane malice saith S. Cyprian speaking of Elias sed by Rauens and Daniel spared by Lions ferae parcunt aues pascunt homines insidiantur saeuiunt fowles of the aire they bring meat beasts of the field they bring comfort whilest man against man doth rage and tyrannise Now vertue it selfe that reioyceth in the obiect yet findeth trouble in the act no patience so strong but it is sensible nor sanctification so perfect as to extirpate nature When the glorified Saynts in heauen do crie vsquequo Domine c. How long Lord faythfull and true doest not thou iudge and auenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth and Abels murder speaketh loud a brothers iniury No maruell then if heere on earth good mens wrongs cause good mens howlings the one being so frequent the other cannot be altogether vnusuall As is the head such are the members Heere is the difference the children of the bride-chamber did not mourne whilest the bridegroome himselfe was with them malice was ioyned with policy ayming by the death of the Generall to disband the Army as long as Christ liued wee reade of no persecution against his Disciples but he once remooued Stephen is stoned Peter crucified Paul beheaded Some burned some strangled some broyled some brayned all but only S. Iohn murdered And euer since that is too true amara est veritas qui eam praedicat repletur amaritudine bitter is the truth and he that preacheth it is filled full of bitternesse The woes of Saynts hauing no ease but custome and that passage of S. Bernard is good the spouse louingly sayth hee inuiteth the beloued to her bed and hee her againe to armes and trouble illâ monstrante lectulum ille vocat ad campum ad exercitium hence it is that in her garden doe grow Roses as well as Lilies because the Church is both operibus candida cruore purpurea hauing this vnseparable lot to doe good and suffer euill As my Father sent mee so send I you sayth our Sauiour to his Disciples That is as Bellarmine doth well expound the place 1. To binde and loose 2. To reconcile God and man 3. To beare my crosse and suffer afflictions Indeed why should we looke for loue when our head found hatred If the world hate you it hated mee before you as himselfe speaketh Most comfortable is that of S. Augustine In ipsum Christum non crederemus si fides Christiana cachinnum metueret Paganorum that man will neuer be Christian that can be dismayd by the scoffes of a Pagan And it is as vsuall to see vntouched consciences and vntouched fortunes to dwell together as for men that know no sorrow to know no God It is opposition that giues the triall and causeth argent seem bright in a sable field as the fun pleaseth breaking from a cloud It is the portion and vertue of goodnesse to suffer and shine in great extremities Et hïc vlulat abies Whether the fall of Cedars will prooue another cause is my third part and question Of all the sorrowes that the firre tree hath the fall of Cedars is the least if any It may seeme enuie that they inioy heauen or selfe-loue that wee enioy not them when wee are so transported to the degree of howling for such as know no sorrow Doest thou lament the body from which a soule is parted sayth Augustine rather deplore the soule from which God is separated A Saint you say is fallen It is impossible Si iustus quomodo cadit si cadat quomodo iustus If so how fell hee if he fell how so Vespasian sayd of himselfe that he was not a dying but a diefying And Blessensis of a friend abijt non obijt recessit non decessit heeis but gone aside a while but not departed The garment that was taken from Ioseph was but a false argument of his death or losse for he then not only liued but gouerned Egypt Nor doth the sencelesse body prooue any thing more then that the soule hath left that sinfull prison and is fled to heauen which whoso doth soonest is happiest as the traueller that hath taken vp a good lodging feeleth not the trouble of him that is comming to him in the rayne and dirt As in Paradice there was a liberty of life or death so in the world a necessity of death not life But in heauen and hell a necessity of life that can neuer be extinguished For in one death would bring ease which cannot be granted in the other losse which cannot be imagined The corolary is this Saynts are not to bee lamented as lost but beloued as absent If bryers or brambles fall weepe for them they must bee burned If Cedars they were planted to be transplanted from the hill of Libanon to the Sanctuary of God Dauid had iust cause to exclayme O my sonne Absalom my sonne my sonne Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my sonne my sonne Hee was both a priuate sinner and an open traytor But Christs was O daughters of Ierusalem weepe not for mee but weepe for your selues and for your children It was good for the Church that Paul should abide in the flesh but better for him to be dissolued and bee with Christ What ingratitude were it to

honour of nobility And it presently followeth O quantus in Christiano populo honor Christi est vbi Religio ignobilem facit How little honour do Christians shew their God when the profession of the Religion maketh the professor to be held ignoble Let me adde that no nation vnder heauen of what religion soeuer if they acknowledge a God doe vnder-value their Priests and orders but only the Reformed Churches I pray God it may portend no iudgement I haue now breathed her course of life and proceed to a conclusion if I bee tedious you must blame her vertues As her life was nothing but a care for death so her death an entrance to a better life She hauing beene a Mary to God a Martha to the world a Sara to her husband a Lois an Eunice to her children a Lydia to the Disciples in a word an elect Lady borne for the good of many So as shee might well vtter S. Ambrose his speech to his people of Millan which S. Augustine so much admired Non sic vixt vt me pudeat apud vos diutius viuere nec mori timeo quia bonum Dominum habemus I haue not so liued as that I should be ashamed to liue longer nor feare I to die because wee haue a gracious Lord. Sure it is that death which was so long expected and prepared for could neither be suddaine nor grieuous when it happened About a moneth before her childebirth she had a dreame which something troubled her and sent for me a bad interpreter if I could to tell the meaning Her body she thought was past all cure her vitall spirits spent she had taken her leaue of the world and reconciled her selfe to God and was euen giuing vp the ghost into the hands of her redeemer and so awaked I told her dreamed came either from the disposition of the body or the sollicitude of the minde and that questionlesse her meditations were much vpon mortalitie and that some of those broken species remained in the fancie vndiscoursed and the soule which cannot bee idle did worke vpon them She replied in few words to this effect I doe or should daily think to die sure I am not I only but all should doe so and occasion being offered of some thing to be done a moneth after by that time said she shall I be in my graue And indeed within three or foure daies of her account she was so as I compute the time as if God rather then nature had revealed it to her After her deliuery succeeding a painfull labour it was well hoped she had at once parted with her Childe and danger and that her many faintings were signes of a weake but not a dying body Lord how a little glimpes of comfort giueth light to desire and loue and maketh men thinke they she when they doe but dreame hope being the first thing that taketh vs and the last that leaueth vs but she that had often seene the face of death and had as often wrestled with his forces seldome comming off without great paine and hazard found him now manifestly preuailing and cryed out farewell vaine earth I embrace thee Heauen Then calling for her noble Husband tooke her leaue of him and prayed for him blessed her Children and s●●tching her little Sonne into her dying armes desired God to make him true to him and iust to man and at other times although not then that he might resemble his great Grandfather in all noble vertues for he said she was likewise a Cliffords Sonne then casting her eyes vpon all together with a zealous exclamation besought God for them that the seedes of his grace might be so sowen within their hearts that they might bud and blossome and bring forth fruit and become in time broad shades for the poore afflicted members of Christ to sit vnder and receiue comfort In the morning before she died she had conuulsion and the signes of death and I comming to her although she had not slept foure or fiue nights before an infirmity able to haue weakned the strongest braine yet presently without the least distemper distraction or shortnesse of breath her old disease she recalled all her vitall spirits to doe that last office comfortably and confidently made the profession of her faith auowing that there was no name either in Heauen or in Earth that she hoped to be saued by but that of Iesus Christ the righteous She was not then to learne either the principles or practice of Religion so that I stood rather to behold the vse then teach the theory From that wee went to prayers she repeating with wonderfull feruency the words after me vntill perceiuing her weaknesse I besought her to spare her decayed spirits telling her that both shee and wee might receiue as much comfort by her silent assistance in the length and vocall assent in the conclusion When all was done that could be required of a Christian in that extremity I boldly proceeded to the office of my Ministry and pronounced her absolution and am very confident that it was olaue non errante with a Key that erred not and that God did ratifie in heauen what I his vnworthy Minister declared on earth she receiuing it as comfortably as I deliuered it faithfully After this she seemed to sleepe and a great care was had for feare of interruption and so continued vntill the afternoone when her speech left her and the messengers of death againe appeared And we as was our duty renued our prayers which for a time she answered with signes vntill her memory as well as her tongue did faile her Nor did we then giue ouer as knowing well with S. Augustine that God differreth sometimes to grant to teach vs to beg and so promiseth to beginners as that he will giue to none but perseuerers My selfe and another Minister that came in that perplexity continually solliciting his Diuine Maiesty for mercy vntill in the middest of one of my prayers in which I desired him to giue his Angels charge ouer her in that her agonie against sinne and Sathan she departed going her selfe to vndoubted ioy and leauing vs to vnfayned sorrow And thus O firre trees our Cedar is fallen If such a fall bee not an exaltation rather for it shall bee my ambition to liue so that I may die so And now she lieth low by the side of that other excellent Lady her predecessor two such parcels of earth as the earth that couereth them may seeme proud of What remayneth but a generall sorrow not for her but for our selues in which each order may beare a part of mourning the firre trees because all the mighty are spoyled as it followeth the words of my text and the oakes of Bashan to for their defenced forrest is come down I shall not need to bid the shepheards howle for the next verse sayth that their voyce is already heard and good reason for their glory is destroyed nor the Lions whelps their roaring is presupposed