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	life_n	spirit_n	11,648	5	5.3153	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90552	A sermon lately preached at court, before His Majesty, in ordinary attendance: by VVilliam Peterson, D.D. and Deane of Exeter. Chaplaine to His Majesty.	Peterson, William, d. 1661.	1642 (1642)	Wing P1730; Thomason E151_3; ESTC R14888	15,566	32

just O my soule thou art happy The heathen man could tell us that afflictions they are tributa vivendi the tributes of the living and therefore we ought to beare them man-like and resolvedly and not as those whining souldiers doe qui gementes sequuntur Imperatorem but rather imbrace them as those Virgins in Eusebius did their martyrdomes running thereunto tanquam ad nuptias as if they were to meet their Bridegroome For the godly are purged indeede but it is to be made the better Is gold the worse because it is refined or wheat because it is fanned the light would not be so acceptable were it not for that usuall intercourse of darknesse Too much honey doth turne to gall and too much joy even spirituall may make us wantons Thou mayest a while be tossed up and down in this troublesome world like Noahs Ark amongst the waters but yet the Lord will at length remember Noah and then all these waters shall be abated The Romans we know did never fight and triumph both in one place their battails were commonly fought in Africk or in Asia but their place of triumph it was in Rome so we must not looke to contend and receive a Crowne of victory both at once our time of suffering is here in this world our crowne of reward that comes hereafter for when our soules immortall shall be once separated from our mortall bodies and disposed of God then comes beauty for ashes oile of joy for mourning garments of gladnesse for this spirit of heavinesse so that the contemplation of this future happinesse must interpose it selfe betwixt us and our afflictions and certainly the troubles and afflictions of this present life are evermore mingled and allayed with many delights and comforts Here we are sorrowing as Saint Paul speakes but yet alwayes rejoycing 2 Cor. 6. For there is a Spirit of comfort within us alwayes helping our infirmities If we be buffeted or beaten for the Gospel of Christ then this Spirit tells us that it is an honour to suffer for the name of Jesus If poverty oppresse us then the Spirit teacheth us to be content with what we have What if Benjamin have a double portion some others worldly riches more then I perhaps it is all the portion these men can hope for to inherit What if I be made here on earth one of the lesse honourable members of Christs body the foot and not the hand or the eye it is sufficient for me that I am a fellow heire with the noblest members of the body and perhaps God will recompence this present want of mine hereafter with more abundant honour If the death of some deare friend the losse of thine office or estate or any such thing be thine affliction why the Spirit is able to teach and instruct thee that all things wee enjoy in this present life they are but lent us and therefore we must account of them all but as things borrowed from some friend or neighbour who may call for them back againe at their pleasure Neither must it trouble us what instruments are used for the fetching home of these earthly commodities whether fire or water theeves or sicknesse no more then if thy neighbour who hath lent thee a saw or a hatchet or any other houshold thing should appoint some foolish or dishonest servant to bring it home again and to re-mand it Let us learne then in all dutifull obedience to submit our selves to Gods good will and pleasure For though our troubles be great and many yet I have an assured confidence that God will never suffer his strength and spirit utterly to forsake us or give us altogether over to the rage and madnesse of those that hate us For this is Gods constant method of proceeding he doth either protect and keep the righteous out of all calamities or else if they fall upon him he conducteth him safe through them and permitteth them not to be miseries He either gives him honours and promotions and wealth or else more benefit by wanting of them then if he had them all at his owne will and pleasure he either filleth his house with plenty of all good things or else makes him a sallet of greene herbs more sweet then all the sacrifices of the ungodly Let us not then with the ungratefull Israelites murmur against God for any affliction sent unto us for God knows whereof thou art made he sees how thy nature stands inclined If thou shouldst alwayes heare the sweet tune of pleasure and delight as it were the melodie of Nebuchadnezzars instruments perhaps thou wouldst presently fall downe and worship this Babylonish Idol The Prophet David was even at the point of cleane forgetting himselfe and so straying from his right minde but that thy rod saith he hath been my supporter And the holy Apostle Saint Paul if he had not had the corrasive of sharp and bitter strokes his heart would have gone neer to have swolne with that great abundance of heavenly revelations for we are prone by nature to forget our selves and therefore we had need of some buffetings of Satan to make us reflect upon our owne weaknesse The children of Israel whilst they lived in prosperity at home would neither hearken nor obey but being in banishment and under captivity then whilst they sate by the waters of Babylon they could weep to remember thee O Sion For there is not any affliction how short soever but doth more truly informe a mans understanding in a day then all the grave speeches and subtilest disputations of the Philosophers in a yeare Then we begin to remember that there is a God and that we our selves are but men Then we admire no man and despise no man seeing by the condition of our owne frailty that no man is so secured of his riches his honours his life or his possessions but that he may be deprived of these or any of these the very next day or houre to come for it is not the heighth or eminencie of place or meanes that can exempt us from casualties or inconveniences Tall men we know are as subject unto fevers as men of lower stature and great Empires and Kingdomes we see by wofull experience are as easily disturbed as the State of pety Princes For those who are advanced to the highest pitch of honour I cannot better compare then to the first letter of a Patent or limb'd booke which we know hath great and large flourishes yet still it is but a letter So those kind of men they may have large flourishes high and swelling Titles great Honours and preferments yet still they are but men mortall men incident to every disgrace griefe and infirmity as well as others and thus we see afflictions are the onely soveraign meanes to bring us to a right sense and knowledge of our selves and therefore whatsoever our condition or estate be let us learne therewith to be content for this world is a kind of stage-play where there must be Actors