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	very_a	5,362	5	5.6127	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51724	Il Davide perseguitato David persecuted / vvritten in Italian by the Marquesse Virgilio Malvezzi ; and done into English by Robert Ashley, Gent.	Malvezzi, Virgilio, marchese, 1595-1653.; Ashley, Robert, 1565-1641.; Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650.	1650 (1650)	Wing M358; ESTC R37618	56,199	263

in all with him and besides it hee makes no account of any thing A Tyrant is ordinarily so close by nature and so enured by Art to conceale his intent that when hee would willingly bee understood hee cannot sometimes make them understand them For not only men know not what hee thinkes but many times they understand not what he sayes They agree that David should hide himselfe and Ionathan should observe what the King saith when on the first day of the moneth he should note Davids absence from the table and that by a signe betweene them hee should make knowne his fathers intent Then they depart as under renewing their oathes and covenants of friendship THe first day of the moneth being come Saul seeing that David appeared not flattering his desire hee would not beleeve that David absented himselfe for feare but rather for some uncleannesse when he sees him not appeare on the second day hee asketh Ionathan what is become of David who answereth that hee is gone to celebrate the solemnity then Saul reproachfully reproveth his sonne for preferring his friendship with David before matter of State by reason that while David lived hee could not be established in the Kingdome To chastise an offence committed is proper to the Law that which would be committed is reserved to God that which may be committed is peculiar to a Tyrant when it is not justice but a point of State that seekes the life of a subject there is scarce any remedie if David had offended he might have hoped for pardon and haply have obtained it But where there i● no offence there can be no recourse to clemencie nor expectation of it Those merits that would have countervailed his faults doe condemne his innocencies A great occasion it mu●● hee to put an innocent to death and because it is great it is insuperable When justice hath had her course in condemning shee leaves Clemencie her place to absolve but where it is injustice to condemne the putting to death proceeds of selfe interest It is good for him that dyes if hee dye innocent but in regard of the world it is better being guilty when he is condemned Hee that hath done an offence and demands pardon speakes not a word but to the Princes praise hee confesseth his fault declareth the vertue of Justice in the Prince and in demanding his pardon he shewes that hee doth also beleeve the vertue of clemencie to be in him But all the words of the innocent sound to the blame of the Prince hee shewes him to bee unjust hee declares him to be a Tyrant hee seekes not to pacifie him he incenses him and cannot hope for mercy because hee cannot aske it if hee pray the Prince to spare him his life hee must needs discover the cause that moves him to take it away and because hee discovers it hee is made worthie of Death Ionathan demands of Saul for what offence hee doth persecute David but the King in a rage casts a speare at him and he flies THere is nothing more offensive to a Prince than to require him to declare what he desires to conceale The word why or when imports an Interrogation ought never to bee found in their mouthes that treat with Princes The interrogating hath I know not what superiority because it obligeth one to answer and Princes are not to be obliged but rather to be obeyed Ionathan riseth from the Table in a great anger he goes the next morning where David was and gives the signe according to their agreement David comes out of the place where hee was hid Ionathan informes him of his successe and reiterating the oathes of their Confederacie and the tokens of their Amity not without tender teares they depart asunder WHat thing is Friendship It is a union as one may say of two soules in one bodie which in a sort doe informe it if not truly yet vertually and if a soule be so much grieved when it is to depart out of an earthly body which it informed why should it not also bee grievous to depart from another soule which she loved Such a departure should be but as a death were it not that the distance of place doth not breake off the union of those things that doe not possesse any place But as in the parting of friēds the souls are not so much afflicted the bodies are grieved in forgoing the fomentation of those spirits that were a consolation to them It is not credible that Nature having permitted us spirits to offend us with hath not also granted that the spirits of a friend should bee comfortable unto us Otherwise the spirits of Hatred and of Love should be the selfe-same David flieth and commeth to Nob to Achimelech the Priest who marvelling to see him alone demands the occasion thereof David answers that hee goes about the Kings service who hath so commanded HEe saith truth that hee goes about the Kings service for in flying hee doth the King good service by bereaving him of occasion to doe a great outrage His flight is not to escape chastisement for his offences but to avoyd the mischievous requ●tall of his benefits O the lamentable condition of men of high desert they have two most potent enemies Envy and Feare the one very hardly to be overcome the other impossible nay rather the victorie over the first makes the other the greater Envy like a mountaine it the waters of valour increase is sometimes overwhelmed but feare like a ship the more they increase the higher doth it rise What must they doe then that are so beset with impossibilities Let them couragiously make head against the obstacles of their good fortune if where it is and where not let them give place to the evill It is necessarie sometimes even in a storme to strive against the winde if wee see the haven neere at hand but if it be far off it is better to strike saile and runne adrift than to make shipwrack The most worthy when they are not the greatest become the most infortunate Valour can never clearely be discerned but only in a Prince There because it is profitable to the subjects they reverence and feare it not and because it is an honour to them they commend and envie it not It is so faire a thing that if those two monsters Feare and Envie did not deforme it men would even adore it but haply God permitteth them to deforme it lest it should be adored because it is adored over much when it is not so deformed If it be true that it is agreeable to nature that the best should cōmand it cannot bee contrary to Nature that the better should be feared by him that doth command If the eminency of vertue could bee laid aside perhaps there would not some bee wanting that to lead a quiet life would willingly reduce themselves to that mediocritie that might keepe them from contempt and defend them from envie But as that eminencie is faire and not easie

of proceeding cannot alter it because it is naturall to them others will not because they have prospered with it and those ought never to change whose demeanour hath ever beene vertuous That power which is rising because it riseth cōmonly by the meanes of reputation must beware of losing it and preferre it even before life for therewith all its good is lost Politicians have esteemed this rule to be so true that they have made it an universall one and will have a Prince rather to hazard his estate and life than to lose by meanes of Peace Truce or tribute his reputation I subscribe not to their opinion yet doe I agree that if the greatnesse of a Prince consist in his reputation hee ought rather to die than to lose it but if it be founded on store of money and people which are his subjects let him yeeld to the time make peace and truce ever though it bee with disadvantage of reputation let him become tributary though it be to an inferior nation and leave not any thing undone how meane soever so it be not against Gods Law rather than to adventure his estate for any thing is better than to put that in jeopardy If that be not lost it is never out of season to recover whatsoever is lost Its prudence in Princes and no infamy they ought not to abhorre any thing that may augment or maintaine their dominion Private men write such weake rules because they measure them by their owne compasse Every degree of men hath his proper and peculiar kinde of reputation differing each from other so farre forth that many things accounted infamous in one degree are well reputed in another A Prince that hath a great estate never loseth his reputation if he lose not his estate for his estate is his reputation The world is in a confusion in such sort that men of one degree leaping into that of others by confounding the divers degrees have confounded all the world The Merchant will take upon him the Gentleman and the Gentleman the part of the Prince the religious that of the souldier and where the reputation of the one consists in suffering and forgiving of injuries hee leapes into that of the other whiles he seekes to require and revenge I am to be excused if I am long in this matter which is the cause of great errours in the world for if every one would follow his owne profession it would soone be knowne that reputation consists in knowing well how to performe his owne profession David being on one side of a mountaine seeing Saul on the other calleth unto him and sheweth him his garment assuring him of his good will complaineth that he is persecuted but blameth the Kings Ministers and not the King himselfe Saul hearing that malice is imputed to his servants doth not excuse himselfe by them but layeth the fault on himselfe IT is an ordinary thing of male-contented men to complain though not of the Prince himselfe yet of his Ministers That when David doth here out of modesty is done often by others out of subtilty To rise against the government makes the name of a rebellion the lesse odious deceives the people yea many times the Princes themselves for a while who sometimes discerne not at the first the ambition that commeth masked under discontentment Princes ought therefore to have their Ministers about them of singular goodnesse and of tried prudence that upon the first rumor they may be wel assured of the falsehood of such complaints and breake the heads of such horrible Serpents at their first appearing The reverence that the people beare toward the Prince is so great that it would be a difficult thing to stirre them up against him but by first beguiling them and though it bee all one to rise against the government and to rebell against the Prince because either the Prince is hee that governeth or hee that governes is the Princes Minister yet it appeares not at first with so foule a face It is true indeed that an insurrection of the people is occasioned by a bad Minister in which case the Prince doth alwayes amisse to chastise him In the people there is not alwayes one desire covered under another but if the great ones arise against the governement it is not because they are not well governed but because they would be governors themselves to satisfie their demands were to consent to lose the Soveraignty seeing such will not bee satisfied till they obtaine it Samuel dieth hee is buried with honour and is by the people most tenderly bewailed I Know not whether mourning for the dead proceedeth of piety or of meere interest It may favour peradventure of piety to bewaile when hee dieth but not after hee is dead who would not have compassion of his friend while he sees him or imagines tormented with the grievous agonies of death Men are certainly in very great paine for they are in the paine due to a very great fault And who would not after rejoyce to see him departed victorious over humane frailty and to triumph over death it selfe without having left any other spoyle in that conflict than his body and that for a very short time To lament the dead if one may say is then most impious when it seemes most pious and then ought most to bee done when it seemes not due at all The death of the righteous at which wee ought to rejoyce makes us to mourne and that of the wicked which we ought most to lament doth rejoyce us It is no friendly but an envious part to be grieved at the death of that friend whose life may make us beleeve that he injoyes his deserved glory But it is a part of piety to be sory at their death whose wickednesse doth make us doubt that they are cast headlong into hell The world is so full of snares that the good should not desire to bee in it because there they may be corrupted and so great is the mercy of the Lord our God that the wicked should desire to bee therein that they may be amended But if we are grieved in regard of our owne interest is it not more available that our friends pray to God for us than to men He that thinkes he hath lost his friend when he dieth if he beleeve the immortality of the soule and doth not thinke him damned must then beleeve that the Characters of his vertues are lost with God O how true it is that all our errours doe spring and grow from our muddy senses They acknowledge no interest but earthy no happinesse but worldly and albeit man is elevated by his better part unto a more excellent knowledge yet he cannot desire it as hee ought because he cannot know it as it is David went unto the wildernes of Rachan and understanding that there dwelt neere thereabout a man exceeding rich in flockes and other possessions whose name was Nabal he sent unto him on the day of sheep-shearing to

love The Ziphims go to Saul and advertise him that David is in their desarts and hee goes to seeke him with 3000. chosen souldiers SEe how the pride of Saul is not mitigated with the humility of David perhaps because the pride was joyned with interest and the humility with reputation The proud man becomes meeke not when his enemy hath humbled himselfe but when hee himselfe hath humbled him That humility that is begotten by feare doth ever mitigate the pride that is not brutish hee that beleeved otherwise might haply have beene deceiued by confounding the one with interest and the other with greatnesse of minde The proud man will have his enemy bow unto him but if then when hee boweth downe his deeds lift him up he doth not mitigate but rather exasperate him because insteed of magnifying him he doth afflict and confound him All the wise yea and wily men doe humble themselves to him that persecutes them when their humility encreaseth their reputation which it alwayes doth when seperated from dobilitie The greatest pride that may be found goes clad in the habit of humility and oftentimes is not discerned by others but him onely against whom it is imployed and because by the rest it is not discovered they cannot oppose against it without being blamed David being enformed of Sauls arrivall and having gotten some knowledge of his strength calls unto him Achimelech and Abishai askes them who will goe with mee into the army of Saul and Abishai answers I will goe WHen Princes conferre a degree of honour on a subject they will make choice themselves but in a matter of danger they use to leave him to his owne choice and whereas the subject thinkes to make his merit the greater by how much it is the more voluntary the Prince on the cōtrary sometimes holds himselfe lesse obliged to him whom he hath least obliged I blame not this proceeding so it bee not of purpose to avoid to bee beholding but to bee assured of the sufficiency and love of the subject To expose him to danger and to love him doe not very well agree To make one to offer himselfe in a voluntary manner is not sufficient argument of such affection if without much entreatie his offer bee accepted David and Abishai goe to the campe of Saul where they finde the Guard the King himselfe and all his souldiers asleepe THe Lord God ordinarily in the effects of the world suffers his hand to bee seene of them only that are very sharpe sighted because hee workes by naturall instruments yet sometimes also he will be seene even of those that are blinde because he workes by the supernaturall a●me of his Omnipotency When there are operations perceived to be contrary to the ordinary course that the watchfull are found sleeping that the prudent are overseene that the valiant are faint hearted there they that are well sighted may discerne the hidden finger of God who when hee intendeth the ruine of some house or kingdome or any other place takes from it those that might save it or otherwise alters them in such sort that they oppose not his designes sometimes also taking away the marke of naturall things hee sends an Angell to burne Cities to destroy Armies and raiseth up Captaines that with the light of a torch or a lampe make Cities fall downe and then there is no eye so blinde but seeth therein the Almighty hand of God Abishai would have slaine Saul David would not permit him but takes away his speare and his pot of water WHo will wonder at David that having beene as a Lion when hee slew the Giant Goliah he now shewes himselfe a lambe in suffering Saul to live if he were a figure of that God who to the sinner was a Lambe and a Lion to the Devill He that aimeth at a dignity in shewing himselfe faint-hearted in obtaining it will not prove couragious when he hath obtained it David did not forbeare to slay Saul for any reason of State but abstained from it for the reverence and feare of God Where hath that man beene found that knew this peece of policy at any time It is too finely wrought to be disdiscerned by the eyes of those that are blinded with the passions of desire to rule or revenge untill having obtained the dominion or the revenge they desired their eyes happily are cleered then they begin to consider that which they should have considered before they are afraid of the example which themselves have begotten whence it came to passe that many have revenged the death of those Princes of which themselves have beene the procurers They are terrified in their seat of State they hate their Scepter as if it threatned violent death to him that treads on it or hold it They stand in feare of the stars that rule over that kingdome as if the vanity of those were true as it is most false who have beleeved that the violent constellations of kingdomes with a very little helpe of the Kings Horoscope had the power to kill them David calleth out to Abner and reprooves him for not having kept the King duly I Know not whether this were good policy to provoke the Generall of the army but I know that Abner after the death of Saul was he that made all the warre against David He complaines againe to Saul of his being persecuted saying if God hath stirred thee up against me let him bee appeased with sacrifice if men have done it accursed bee they of God HE speakes not of appeasing men he knowes that malignity may be extinguished but never appealed and that no other sacrifice doth extinguish it but the suffering of himselfe to be extinct He that practiseth malignity is base he that gives eare to it is weake 't is not the part of a prudent or a wary man It is a sword that is sharpe on every side one cannot strike with it but is wounded himselfe hee is irkesome to those that heare him among whom while he seekes to endamage another hee loseth his owne reputation but yet he is hearkned to and why they hearken to him and how this is wrought I know not neither will I teach nor learne it For I hold the profession so infamous that if I did contemplate the means of the practice thereof I should accuse my selfe to bee guilty in the tribunall of detraction To teach others how to bee malicious is a great malignity and would bee a great madnesse in me I should sharpen that sword that hath wounded mee so oft and should make my selfe master of a profession which I never practised but passively Saul confesseth againe that he hath sinned and prayeth David to returne who answers Let one come to fetch the Kings speare but speakes not of his returning THe great favorites of Princes if they once fall they fall headlong they are gone they cānot up againe The cause that shall separate them from their Lord must needs be great there is no returning The