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	soul_n	suffer_v	12,447	5	6.7408	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20957	A preparation to suffer for the Gospell of Iesus Christ. Or, A most Christian exercise full of comfort and consolation for these present times. Written in French by the learned, and zealous, Peter Du Moulin, Profresor of Diuinitie, in the Vniuersitie of Sedan	Du Moulin, Pierre, 1568-1658.; Darcie, Abraham, fl. 1625.	1623 (1623)	STC 7336; ESTC S118563	17,868	86

his colds humidities and raines the Spring with its beauty sweetnes flowers Summer with its heat siccitie and drought who likewise discerne not the leafeles trees to reassume their verdure and ornament dead plants to resprout withered herbs to reflorish and corrupt seeds to reuiue for that which thou sowest cānot quicken before it first die Cor. 15 A most wonderful thing that Nature should destroy to preserue take away to restore ruinate to maintain corrupt to reuiue and consume to augment and that things by her defeated shold be restor'd made more beautifull and abundant the which thou maist euidently see in the wheat which being laid in the parts of the earth as in sepulchres or graues after it hath putrified it coms vp again much more rich and plentiful then before And to say truth the condition of all things in this Vniuers is renued by their losse and suffer a falling away for their further reparation so that all these ordinary reuolutions these mutable rowling orders of things are nothing but testimonies and intimations vnto vs and as it were a delineation and draught of the Resurrection of the dead the wonder whereof God hath rather exprest in his works then declared by his Ministers by his power rather then by his word and by Nature rather then by Prophesie that so thou mightest be made more fit for the doctrin of Faith being instructed by the experience of this world and so thereupon they should resolue and firmly beleeue that he will likewise reestablish thy person for as thou seest hee reestablisheth all things Wherfore then should we fear either the destruction or endurances of this body seeing it must be restor'd yea into a glorious estate conformable to the body of Iesus Christ why should we fear the hatred of the world which cannot exceed the respects of this world nor bee any obstacle to the accomplishment of our saluation Let vs perseuer vnto the end for he that suffers to the ende shall bee saued So as there is no temptation that can shake our constancy neither the cruelties of oppression nor the perplexities of pain anguish nor the rigor of persecution nor the hardnes of famine neither the ignominy of nakednes or the horror of perill neither the furie of the sword nor the miseries of life neither the violence of death nor the force of all the creatures ioyn'd in one But by reason that in this general hatred of all men against the Church we perceiue the wrath of God kindled against vs because of the extremity of our sins let vs acknowledge them in their horror with a detestation renunciation of them let vs lament with a profound contrition in sighs and teares imploring Gods mercy to the end that his indignation ceasing he may stay the power and fury of such as hate vs. And let vs be cōforted in that if we are hated of the world we are beloued of God that as we cannot loue God and the world together so both God and the world cannot ioyntly loue vs. If we ought to endure for the name of Christ it is freely giuen vs not onely to beleeue in him but also to suffer for him thogh men make war vpon vs yet can they not take from vs the peace of God nor the peace of our consciences If we be depriu'd of our earthly commodities yet shall we not be exempted from the treasures of heauen we may take ioyfully the being stript of our goods and chuse rather to be afflicted with the people of God then to enioy for a time the delights of sinne esteeming opprobries for Christ greater riches thē the treasures of Egypt in respect of their renumeration If we suffer any losse of the body we shal find gain of the soule and that is a good return when we lose for to gaine for in these losses the spirit profits and purchaseth incomparably more then the flesh loseth If we be put to triall by banishment why all the earth is the Lords and though we should bee dispearsed into the most sauage Desarts yet should we not be separated from God nor lose the priuiledge of being Citizens in heauen If most violent aduersities assaile vs the indurances of the time present are not comparable to the glory to come Our light afflictions which doe but euen passe ouer head produce in vs an eternal ioy of a glory superexcellent For if in this transitory world we see a number of men expose themselues to the extreamest hazards and perils be it out of a thirst after glory desire of riches be it for ambitions quarrels or the wars of their Princes should wee refuse to suffer for Gods cause such things as others suffer for meer worldly respects If we be vrg'd to imprisonment the Spirit of God will enter in with vs to giue vs consolation and to reside with vs and in vs. And though the prison were like the deuils house yet by the spirit of our God and by the efficacy of our prayers we may be able to assault and subdue him in his own house we shall put him to flight to the greatest profundities of his depths as an Adder or Snake who being pursued betakes himself to his hole concauity keepes himselfe in folds himselfe vp in his twists hides himselfe and dares not appeare we shall send him from the prison to his hell from the gaole to his place of torments And it need not be hard for vs to be sequestred from the things of this world seeing we are but strangers to the world in that the world is worse then a prison for the prison hath no such darknes in it as that of the world which blindes mens vnderstandings neither are there any such strong bonds as those of the world which doe so hamper the soule nor so euill sents as the odors of the world which are stinking affections and infected corruptions that defile both heauen and earth It holds not so many wicked ones within the precincts of it as the world which comprehends them all neither expects such terrible Iudgement as the world which shal heare the sentence of eternall condemnation To conclude if the prison hath darknesse our selues be light in God if bonds we are free in the Lord if odious stinches we are a good odor to God through Iesus Christ if we are found guilty we are iustified before God if the Iudge bee there ready to giue iudgement wee shall one day iudge as assistants with Christ Iudges of all the world in like manner For if a Christian out of prison renounceth the world how much being in prison ought he to doe the like And what matters it what hee is in this world seeing he is out of the world And thogh his be enclosed within a prison for are not all things open and at liberty to the Spirit who wil not forbear to breake through roofes or vaults when in spirit hee may take his free carriere glide vp to heauen and make his happy sallies euen into Paradise That euen as they that descend into a deepe dark well they see there at all times the stars of heauen so likewise the faithfull in the deepest obscuritie of the dungeon faile not with the eyes of faith to behold the glory of the heauens the radiant light of Gods countenance which brings replenishment of ioy and then questionles may a man be sayd to haue lost his earthly condition when the spirit is rauished vp into heauen for the body then hardly feeles any misery when its soule is with God and conuerseth with the blessed But if in being released out of prison we must indure death or martyrdome Christ will be benefit and gaine vnto vs both in life death 2. Tim. 2. If we die with him we shall also liue with him and happy is that death which brings with it life and opens vnto vs the gate of immortality And further it will bee much glory for vs to set together and cyment the Church of God with our blood and ashes And if this death be outwardly odious and ignominious we do but in it contemne the dishonour of the world we being for the name of Christ annihilated in worldly honor calling to mind how Christ was first crowned with thornes before with glory hee did first climb the crosse before he moūted vp into heauen and nayled therunto between two theeues before he sat at the right hand of God his Father If this death be painfull our soule shall be victorious ouer all bodily torments by the diuine vertue of our Lord who out of his deare loue transforming vs into himselfe will make vs incompatible euen as he hath done many other zealous constant Martyrs which haue suffred in their bodies as in strange and different flesh who without astonishment beheld their bodies all on a light fire their entrailes hanging downe their members burnt off and falling downe piece by piece and their ●iuely flesh brought to dust and ashes By their heauenly notes they haue drowned the wind and rumour of the ●●ames and by the and our of their zeale vanquished that of the burning fire and in the midst of fire-hot coales as if it had bin vpon a bed of flowers th●y haue ioyfully exalted their happy and blessed soules Whereunto may further be added that the more cruell torm●●ting our kind of death is so much more excellent and eminent w●●●e constan●y of our 〈…〉

of God for these things to it seeme follies and it cannot conceiue them because they must be discerned spiritually but the spirituall man discernes all things And in deed man being extreamely vaine in all his cogitations in his opinions erronious and in his vnderstanding and will clean peruerted in matters of Religion he takes darknes for light falsehood for truth and euill for good no otherwise but euen like to those whose taste is depraued or stomacke alienated that delight more in grosse and bad then in good and wholesome meats or those who hauing some bitternesse lying on their tongue find the very hony it selfe to bee bitter in their mouthes Moreouer the Gospell manifesting vnto man his miserie his sinne his infirmitie and his impotencie he puffed vp with a conceit and presumption of himselfe abhorreth such a Doctrine And which further grieues the same also this condemnes sensuall and carnall affections together with worldly reason commaunding a renunciation of ones selfe and of the world and man is loath to leaue the loue of these things It summons also to the endurance of persecution and diuers things that are odious to the flesh so that affecting to liue at his ease hee expels and driues away such a Gospell which disturbes his worldly repose and the enioyance of his delights Now though the Lord hath absolute power ouer all creatures yet did hee not abolish this hatred of the world against the faithfull from whence he workes many benefites for our good for it is like a barre or rayle which separates vs from the world and the vices thereof For if the world did not hate vs but rather loued vs what would come of it but an adherence and confirmation of our selues to it and so to be infected with the contagion thereof whereas hating vs wee are thereby constrained to withdraw our hearts and to alter our affections from it that we may bee preserued from the corruptions thereof and aspire to a better estate then that of the world While Iacob beheld the affable visage of Laban hee tooke delight in it but when Laban chaunged his Countenance then hee spake of returning into his Countrey of Canaan While the children of Israel were not hated of the Egyptians they dwelt willingly in Egypt but after they came to bee hated and ill intreated they had a desire to depart to possesse the land of Promise While the world smiles vpon vs wee returne reciprocall contentment to it but when it sets countenance against vs and makes vs feele the sensible effects of her hatred then wee call to minde and desire our celestiall Canaan whereof God hath promised to vs a full possession Furthermore God makes vse of the worlds hatred as of a whip wherewith to scourge vs when we flie out too farre and abandon our selues to the corruptions of the world For then God looseth the reines to this hatred and permits them the execution of their malicious designes as in this troublesome time we haue had experience through the wonderfull excesse of our sinnes and transgressions Besides this hatred is a proper meanes whereby to exercise our vertue and constancie in the tryall of our Faith Patience Charitie Perseuerance and Benignitie It is also a proper subiect to vs of spirituall victory for where can any victory be without combate any combate without opposition any opposition without an aduersary or any aduersary without hatred The hatred of the world must erect vnto vs spirituall trophees and tryumphs the purple of our glory must be of a more lustrous and resplendant die by the effusion of our owne blood For if the Church were not hated of the world what wonder were it though it subsisted and persisted in the world surmounting and trampling it vnder and how should we come to acknowledg the miraculous ayd succor of God the depth of his prouidence power and protection Should we ascribe that to our selues which proceeds meerly from him take that to our owne happinesse which is deriued immediately from his grace But when God works a subsistēce to his church in the very mids of al the worlds hatred it is no lesse to be wondred at then when it was preserued in the midst of Egypt Babylon among the most truculent and bloudy aduersaries she had and as when shee was retyred within the arke she was secured amidst the waues winds tempests and stormes within a floting and fraile residence And if it be an admirable thing that this Vniuers should be maintained being inuironed with such a contrarietie of elements surely it yeelds no lesse cause of astonishment that God still preserues his Church in the midst of hatred contradictions and worldly assaults Yea the words of our Sauiour enioyne vs to this obseruation that we should be so farre from flattering the world or seeking the approbation thereof in any poynt that toucheth concerns religion that cleane contrary we ought to haue it in continuall iealousie and suspition And besides this it is not proper to the church to be applauded or exalted of the world but rather to be molested and persecuted and the peculiar property of the children of the world as the Deuill their father is to hate whereas the property of the children of God is to loue the whole law of God being comprehended in this one word which is To loue God and our Neighbour From whence you may clearely discerne how far remote those of the Romane church are from Christianitie being stuffed with passion in all their censures with hatred in their designs against vs reputing themselues the more zealous Catholickes in that they hate vs and their charities likewise towards vs being extreamly cruel hard hearted for out of the loue they bear vs they put vs to death they persecute and burne vs out of a loue to our saluation whereas we on the contrary seeke peace and concord with them so far as the duties of religion or ciuility in conuersation may permit But if Christ thogh he were glorious and omnipotent suffred himself to be hated of the world and of the enemies to his Gospell let vs learne to admire and imitate his patience clemency And when the world crowned him with thorns can we look to be crowned with flowers If they crucified him will they glorifie vs we affect conformity with him in his beatitude shall we disdain to follow him in his persecutions And whereas the name of Christ is so holy his cause so iust and our profession so authentick what greater honor can be conferred vpon vs then to suffer for so worthy a cause Like vnto the Apostles we must reioyce that wee are found worthy to suffer for the name of Christ and that with S. Paul we may vaunt and glory in our tribulations For besides the honour we receiue in suffring for the name of Christ the reward wee expect therefrom is incomparable For he that perseuers to the end shall bee saued It is not said he that hates

that returnes like for like that seeks reuenge but he that endures which is as much as to say that perseuers that suffers that vndergoes for if there were no further question but of iust repelling of an iniury many wicked men might haue as great a part in saluation as the honestest men that are Moreouer Christ will haue his Gospell auerred not onely by the voice but euen by the crosses and afflictions of the faithfull for then onely we manifest our firm belief when the tormēts of the world cannot shake our credulitie nor the profession therof which we make What more infallible testimony can we yeeld to the word of Christ then by our indurances what more authenticke subscription then our blood what more sure seale thē our death what more solemne satisfaction then the sacrifice of our bodies In this warfare he performes most of a man that vtters the least part of a man and thereunto we are summoned rather to suffer then to act or execute The very words of the text are herein more remarkable in that they properly inferre the sustaining of a heauy burden or else some assault or hot combate all which implies how such endurances for the name of Christ are both hard and heauy They are intimated to be no lesse in the word of the crosse which was a marueilous painful torment and by the burning furnace wherein we are tried and purified as gold and siluer is in the fire so that if we mean to make profession of the name of Christ we must bee prepard resolued not only for light easie temptations but for those most extreme and terrible And because Iesus Christ saith Hee that perseuers or endures hee giues vs heerein to vnderstand how it is not enough for vs to sustain one kind of affliction but generally and without exception al those wherwith it pleaseth God to examine and try vs for some wold willingly passe ouer a little contempt and scorne but not an open ignomie others the losse of goods but not of their liues but without reseruation or exception of any trialls we must perseuere and suffer to the end This word also signifies to suffer with courage and magnimity for many indure which can not bee said to suffer being vanquished and ouercome yea euen ouerwhelmed with the burden being ouercome with the violence of the temptation or of the contrary shocke and force He therefore is properly said to sustaine or suffer that supports and endures without abatement of his courage And therefore patience is here recommended vnto vs one of the most necessary vertues for a Christian for it helps to preserue all the others which without this would faile and prooue defectiue It is patience that bridleth our affections appeaseth our passions moderates our violences swaies ouer our temptations reduceth errant reason into the right way establisheth the soule in her proper seat residence and confirmes her in her offices There is not a greater misery in the world then not to haue patience in time of misery without patience the least inconueniences are insupportable with patience those most extreme made light and easie And as the pearle in durt causeth it's beauty to appeare so a patient man in aduersity makes his vertue to shine and appeare But in that excellent beginnings are altogether vnprofitable with out a finall prosecution Christ saith not simply He that endures but he adds euen to the end For to what purpose is it to haue begun a work well and then to giue it ouer to haue run wel and then lye downe in the midst of the race to haue fought at first valiantly and cowardly at last to yeeld to haue passed the danger of the waues of the tempests of gulfes of rocks and of Pirates if we perish hard by our Port and sink within the channel wherfore we must adde perseuerance vnto patience which is the end the accomplishment both of patience all other vertues For what comes of patience without perseuerance but a shameful reuolt and what honor shal the other vertues haue except perseuerance crowne them which conducting them to their last period makes them victorious and triumphant wherefore let vs sustaine euen to the end This end is chiefly that of afflictions and not such an end as the sense or feeling of our flesh and our own proper affections could desire but such as it pleaseth God to giue vs. For it is not lawfull for vs to shake off our crosse nor to shrinke from vnder the burden which God layeth on vs but resolued vndergoing the same we must attend while God discharge vs thereof Secondly by this end is vnderstood the period of our temporal life for it is not enough to haue sustained for a long time wee must support euen to the houre of death which is the coronation of our life And certainly in that the end of this life is short and the number of our dayes cut off would it not be a wonderful cowardise if we should not perseuer and endure to the end But how can we do this when our infirmities are so great and our indurances so difficult In the first place this must be done by a serious renunciation of our selues and of all other earthly things which wil be of no power nor force to shake vs if wee contemne them be absolutely dead to the world Next of al by a constant faith in God and in his word which assures vs that his spirit will ease in his behalfe our debilities his power will take place in our infirmities and hee will not suffer vs to be tempted aboue our strength but hee will renew our force and giues vs a good happy issue of our temptations Finally by zealous and continuall prayers vnto God of whō they shall be heard as he in his wisdom shall find it most expedient for his glory and our saluation for prayer does fortifie faith it supports hope inflames charitie confirmes patience encreaseth al other vertues it expels sadnes banisheth feare comforts afflictions easeth vexations mollifies torments reneweth forces makes the courage inuincible it surmounts temptations giues victory to al opposit assaults remedy to al inconueniences Why should we then doubt or what need we feare relying vpon such puissant ayds and being further encouraged by so faire a recompence as that of saluation For whosoeuer perseuers to the end shall be saued This promise is not like to those which men make one to another or captains to souldiers which oftentimes prooue frustrat without any effect or by the death of souldiers captains or els for want of power and good will None of these things can make void or frustrat the promises of Christ to them that perseuer and indure to the end not death in our owne persons for it leads vs to life not death in the person of Christ for it is immortall not want of power for he is almightie nor of good affection for he hath suffered death

for vs testifying therein an infinite loue toward vs. In a word we must not call in question the verity of his word for that is infallible Furthermore this promise is not of weake or slight importance for it intimates vnto vs a deliuerance from an extreame miserie which is from eternal death and damnation to the horror wherof we are naturally subiect and from which it hath pleased the Lord to redeeme vs out of his wonderful goodnes and mercy for if men reioyce so much for escaping some eminent or great peril or for being preserued a little while from death which neuerthelesse is ineuitable what a ioy should possesse vs for our liberty and escape from eternall death and perdition and to bee preserued from the same for euer considring the smal number of those that shall be saued in respect of them that shall perish Wheras vnto this benefit there is also annexed an assured possession of eternall Beatitude the which Christ also inferrs saying Whosoeuer perseuers to the end shall be saued If he promised a life of many hundreds or thousands of yeres in this world men would make great esteem of it especially when it were exempted from all molestations sadnesse griefe infirmities all encombrances but accompanied with ioy contentment health power and security of estate condition But much more also were it magnificent and glorious for the inioyance of great wealth and many dominions of a florishing kingdome and famous empire replenished with whatsoeuer the eie the eare or the heart could wish And Iesus Christ promiseth much more vnto vs thē all this saying He that continues to the end shal be saued For what can be comparable to this saluation which in all circumstances is most absolute and perfect the place thereof is heauen the continuance therof is eternall the constancy therof is subiect to no mutation the possession secure and certain the nature of its benefits are incorruptible incomprehensible and diuine their number infinite their degrees eminent and supreme their measure immeasurable and their puritie without taint of euill or corruption for they are all absolutely perfit holy and blessed of God the peace thereof is without molestation the glory thereof is the glory of the Lord God almighty How different then is this saluation from a fraile and transitory life which is nothing but a shadow deuoured swallowed vp in miseries and mortality A life which humors griefes and inflamations consume extenuat which the aire makes sick which meats surcharge which abstinence weakneth which sorrowes waste which passions disturbe which cares do wrinkle which pouertie abaseth which old age bends and makes crooked which torments ouerwhelm and which a lamentable death doth finish a life assayled with a deluge of euils wherin there is no firme station where we can scarcely see one poore branch of the flourishing Oliue wherupon the fearfull Doue may for a moment fasten the foot A life affording the same residence allotted to vnclean beasts and the same light which the very wormes of the earth enioy How far I say more excellent is the state of saluation then this present momentary life where no necessities presse no annoyances disturbe no apprehensions molest no miseries approch or draw neer vnto but replenished with happinesse and beatitude where life is without death ioy without sadnes youth without old age peace without trouble light without darknes abundance without defect good without euill security without danger felicity without end This saluation is so much the more to be desired in that it cōpleatly comprehends the happy estate of our whole persons that is to say both of ●●e soule body the which Christ signifies in saying He that continues to the end shal be saued For otherwise how can we be said to be saued if we might also bee said to be lost and Christ comming to saue that which was lost and absolute entire man being lost must he not likewise in his intire and absolute estate be saued For what a defect were this when Christ hauing assumed our entire person hee should haue redeemed but the moity therof If he were but our half Sauiour and that by him we were but saued in part And who doth not see that the Iustice of God requires the presentation of whole man and as in the one or other part he hath participated of good or euill he hath his share in the retribution both in the one and other part But how should this come to passe that this very body dissolued to ashes atomes and elements should returne to it's former frame and composition O man he that reuiueth the dead that calleth things which are not as if they were cannot hee giue life after death and repeale it from ruine and destruction If he created it when it was not can he not repair it when it hath once bin especially when creation is a greater work then reparation to make more then to restore If he hath made of earth flesh and of flesh earth can hee not of earth reduce it to be flesh again for to him whose wil was to create can any thing be difficult or vnpossible though this worke exceed beyond measure the order and power of Nature yet do not think that it surmoūts the power of the Author of nature who by a vertue and power supernatural gaue being to Nature and who can when he pleaseth exceed the bounds of nature thorow the infinitie of his power which is comprehended within no bonds nor limits And if thou dost but contemplate Nature her selfe and the seueral parts of this world high and low maist thou not discern examples of the great power of God which may be vnto thee as Images and figures of thy restauration For but lift vp thy eyes to heauen mayst thou not see the Sun who after he hath run his course and is spent after the maner of a death in the west no otherwise then as if it were extinguished he returnes againe to appeare seems raised vp in the East with the resplendencie of his former lustre the ornamēt of his beames and the brightnes of his light and by his alternatiue absence and presence dost thou not see the day dye in the night being buried in all parts in darknes then again to renew and reuiue with clarity beauty grace lustre and ornament causing his death to die which is the night and opening its sepulchre which is the darknes liuing till night by a continual and indifatigable vicissitude succeeds it brings it change giuing an end to it as before it receiued light from the same And do ye not behold the innumerable company of lights celestial relightned which before seem'd quite put out the twinckling of Stars reuiued the light of the Planets renued the wanes and increases of the Moone reestablished Moreouer by the remotion or approch of the Sun who does not perceiue al seasons to returne with their qualities forces and vertues Winter with