Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	brethren_n	life_n	zion_n	16	3	8.9801	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01020	Deuout contemplations expressed in two and fortie sermons vpon all ye quadragesimall Gospells written in Spanish by Fr. Ch. de Fonseca Englished by. I. M. of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford; Discursos para todos los Evangelios de la Quaresma. English	Fonseca, Cristóbal de, 1550?-1621.; Cecil, Thomas, fl. 1630, engraver.; Mabbe, James, 1572-1642?	1629 (1629)	STC 11126; ESTC S121333	902,514	708

our life were but a Hell Saint Bernard saith That the end which our Sauiour had in transfiguring himselfe was that we might settle our thoughts and our hopes on that glorie whereunto he inuiteth vs for that mans happinesse wholly consisteth in enioying the presence of God Saint Basil expounding that place of Saint Mathew Estote perfecti c. Be yee perfect euen as your Father is perfect saith That the plainest way to enioy God is to thinke so continually on him that our Soules should be translated as it were into himselfe wee playing therein the Painters who for to take a picture perfectly neuer haue their eye from off the originall Saint Cyprian saith That there is not any thing that doth so much glad the eyes of God as our thinking on the reward which is set before vs. Many Saints turmoyled with a thousand miseries did euermore liue merily by being onely cheered vp with these good thoughts and hopes Salomon tells vs A reward is as a stone pleasant in the eyes of them that haue it Nor is there any pretious stone that so gladdeth his possessour as hope cheereth the Righteous Gregorie Nissen calleth Affliction the Floure of Glorie Fructuum qui sperantur flos As he that is to eat of the fruit takes pleasure in the floure for that neighbouring hope which is neere at hand so the Righteous through hope reioyce in Affliction Our Sauiour therefore being desirous that we should liue in hope vnfolded part of that Glorie which he retained in his Soule that placing our eyes and hearts thereupon all troubles whatsoeuer though neuer so great might seeme little in regard of our hoped-for reward Hence it followeth how ill they proceed and what a desperate and indirect course they take to whom God hauing deputed the Earth for their hopes and Heauen for their blisse peruert this his order by making the Earth their Heauen It is an ordinarie phrase of speech in Scripture to call our life a Warrefare now souldiers that are wise and valiant reuerse their pleasures till the battell is ended and the victorie obtained De torrente in via bibit propterea exaltauit caput He dranke of the torrent by the way therefore hath hee lift vp his head Saint Chrysostome expoundeth this verse of our Sauiour Qui non acquieuit in diebus carnis sua Who rested not in the dayes of his flesh vntill he had ouercome Death and Hel. Saint Ambrose declaring that place of the Apostle Non est nobis colluctatio c. Wee fight saith he with the Princes of Darkenesse for coelestiall goods for they loosing them by our occasion they are vnwilling that wee should enioy them And because Reward is that which giues the Souldier both heart and hands the last Sonday we proposed the Warre this the Reward The Deuill offered our Sauiour the glorie of the World but our Sauiour offers vs the glorie of God the hopes of this are better than the enioying of that Saint Bernard saith That the time of this life is the vigil of that feast which we hope for in glory whence he inferreth these two things The one That it were folly in vs to make the Vigile the Feast Which is all one with that of S. Austen Summa peruersitas est vti fruendis frui vtendis It is no good chop considering the vnequalnesse of the tearmes God gaue vs the Earth that we might vse it Heauen that we might inioy it And it is a beastly kind of ignorance to make the Earth Heauen The other That the Feast beeing so great the fast of the Vigile ought not to seeme so long vnto vs. Saint Paul making a counter position ofthat which may be suffered heere and that which may be hoped for there after that hee had sayd that the one was light and momentary the other weightie perdurable he added Supra modum in sublimitate It is a highnes aboue all highnesse the altitude thereof alone cannot be taken Nor can the tongue of man indeare it so much but it must fall short therof This made Saint Gregorie to say Qua lingua c. What tongue or what vnderstanding is able to vtter the great and wonderfull ioyes of that coelestiall Citie Saint Gregorie opening that place of Ieremie Patres nostri c. Our fathers eat● sowre grapes and our teeth were set on edge He st●les the pleasures of this life to be sowre grapes and fruits that are not yet come to their true ripenesse which are good for nothing else but to set our teeth on edge Philon calls them F●ri● Coeli For pleasures are not for the earth hee that inioyes them steales them from Heauen And as hee that steales inioyes what he hath so got with a great deale of feare and iealousie so may wee be sayd to inioy these humane feasts and pastimes That sacrifice of Abrahams was held the most acceptable that euer any man in the old Testament offered vnto God For in sacrificing his son Isaac hee did sacrifice all the ioy and content of this his life For Isaac by interpretation signifies laughter Risum fecit mihi Dominus The like may bee considered in his casting Agar out of his house which signifies a stranger Resoluing with himselfe beeing but as a stranger in this world not to ioy in the contents of this life Ieremie whose ordinarie occupation was weeping sayd Diem hominis non desideraui That is the day of prosperitie and of pleasure haue I not desired And Saint Bernard hath this note vpon it That hee might haue sayd That he did neither desire it nor inioy it Dauid grew wearie of his passe-times and pleasures Renuit consolari anima mea If any thing can affoord mee comfort it is the meditation of euerlasting ioy Base is that minde that liues merrie and contented with the inioying of the goods of this life Base are the thoughts of that Prince who keeping himselfe close in a Sheapheards cottage shall deeme himselfe happie in that poore estate not so much as once thinking on that crown which he ought to hope for Saint Austen declaring that place of Saint Iames Fratres sufferentiam Iob audistis finem Domini vidistis Yee haue heard Brethren of Iob's suffering and yee haue seene the end of the Lord. God sets before vs as patternes of patience the life of Iob and the death of Christ where it is to be obserued that he doth not set before vs the end of Iob because God giuing him a larger increase of wealth of children and other contents in this life his end was not by him to bee desired But that of our Sauiour was most painefull vnto him And therefore it is sayd Learne of Iob to suffer in this life and of our Sauiour in his death Leauing our hopes to relye vpon that other life Et transfiguratus est And hee was transfigured It was likewise fit that our Sauiour should be transfigured for the confirmation of our Faith For if these

riches to the Poore thou shalt not worke that good thereby as thou shalt by sauing a soule for there is no price comparable with that of the Soule Fructus justi lignum vitae By liuing well himselfe and by gaining his brothers Soule Saint Augustine saith That euerie Christian should desire that all should be saued and he that contemneth correction doth in part denie this desire And the Apostle Saint Iames That he that shall conuert his brother and remooue him from his errour shall saue his soule from death In which words are comprised as well his owne as anothers soule Thomas saith Correction is eleemosina spiritualis a spirituall kind of almes and of so much more price than any other alms by how much the soule is of more price than the bodie by how much the goods of Grace are to be preferred before those of fortune and of Nature He that succours the Poore when hee giues most hee can but lay downe his corporall life for him but hee that raiseth vp him that is fallen bestowes a spirituall life on him and performes the office of an Apostle So that to correct and ●o be corrected brings with it so much interest and so much gaine that euery man may account it for a great happinesse The incorrigible man is so threatned in the sacred Scripture that the verie feare thereof is able to quell his spirits and to make him turne Coward A man that hardneth his necke when he is rebuked shall suddenly be destroyed so saith Salomon The Hebrew phrase is Vir correctionum he that liueth so ill that a man had need to carrie alwayes in his hand a rod of correction for him and instead of amending his faults dayly addes sinne vnto sinne whereby hee is ouertaken with sudden death which in a Sinner is of all other euils the greatest Other lesser threatnings are set downe by Salomon Pouertie and shame shall be to him that forsaketh discipline and now here he saith Sudden destruction shall come vpon him So long may hee perseuer in the hardnesse of his heart that Gods justice may ouertake him and shorten his dayes by sudden death The truth of this is apparent in Pharaoh to whom so many faire warnings and admonitions serued but to make the heape of his sinnes the higher till at last with those heapes of waters hee was ouerwhelmed suddenly in the sea It is written in the Booke of Wisedome That those cruell and many stripes which were bestowed vpon the Aegyptians could not draw so much as one teare from their eyes nor procure the libertie of Gods People of hard-hearted Pharaoh But when they saw the death of their firstborn then they howled wept and Pharaoh himselfe was mooued and made pittious mone and gaue present order for their departure But here I pray you obserue with mee a fearefull kind of obstinacie for they had scarce dryed their teares scarce had they couered the graues of their Dead when lo those that had intreated for their departure as fearing they should all die the death Omnes mori●mur for so saith the Text falling into a rash and vnaduised consideration followed after them as if they had beene a companie of Fugitiues forgetting the former torments which they had indured And a wise man rendring the reason of this so foolish a resolution saith This their hardnesse of heart carried them 〈◊〉 it were perforce to this so disastro●● an end to the end that those whom the plagues which God had sent among them as so many admonitions so many warnings had not made an end of sudden death might destroy and supplie the defect of that punishment O that Sinners would bee so wise as to enter into discourse with themselues The Adulterer whom God hath freed from a thousand notorious dangers of his life and credit though his brethren haue not checkt him yet hath his owne conscience corrected him with greater seueritie and far more sharpely as also the sudden death of other his fellow Adulterers A sudden stab takes him out of the world Vt quae deerant tormentis suppleret punitio That punishment may supplie what is wanting to his torments Another in some bad fashion hazards his honour God miraculously preserues him more than once or twice that he may take warning thereby and reclaime him selfe he mixes a thousand bitter galls with his sweet delights hee affrights him with sudden assaults this doth no good on him hee strikes him with a Lethargie that depriues him of his sences thus through his owne wilfulnes hardheartednes he is haled violently as it were by the haire of the head to this so miserable an end Vt quae de●rant tormentis suppleret puniti● In fauour of the reward which the Corrected shall receiue Salomon proposeth many graue sentences to that purpose The eare that hearkneth to the correction of life shall lodge among the wise not onely in earth but in-heauen for Quicquiescit arguenti gloriabitur Amongst other pledges that a Soule may assure it selfe that God wisheth it well is the sending of a Legat vnto him to aduise him of his faults Si corripuerit me iustus in miserecordia hoc ipsum sentiam it is Saint Bernards I will receiue him as sent from God Labia ●ua distillantia myrrham primam Myrrh is bitter as before hath beene said but preserueth from corruption so are the words of my Beloued they are bitter but are directed to the sauing of my life and to preserue me from death Saint Augustine drawes a comparison from him that is franticke and one that is sicke of a Lethargie the one fals into follie the other into a profound sleepe he that bindes the one and wakes the other is troublesome to them both but beeing both recouered they both giue him thankes Thou hast gained thy brother This is the end and as Aristotle saith Finis est fundamentum omnium actionum nostrarum The end is the foundation of all our actions and the gaining of a lost brother is the end and scope of these our diligences Where I would haue you to note That hee that doth a wrong doth euer receiue more hurt than he that hath the wrong Qui alterum ladit plus sibi nocet Hee that hurts another doth most hurt to himselfe for the hurt that the wronged receiueth is outwardly and in bodie but the hurt of him that wrongeth is inwardly and in soule And therefore Saint Paul saith Yee that sinne against your brother sin against Christ he that despiseth these things despiseth not man but God And our Sauiour Christ He that shall call his brother Foole is worthie of Hell fire So that the wronged cannot receiue the third part of the harme of the partie wronging Plato is of opinion That hee that doth an iniurie to another doth the greatest to himselfe and cannot if he would studie to doe himselfe a worse mischiefe Dauid was much wronged by Absolon for what greater offence could a

fro with it's vnruly appetites is al one Et vita inter Effoeminatos Another Letter hath it Scortatores The connexion is good for Youth runnes it selfe quickely vpon the Rockes of death through it's sensualities and lewdnesse of life There are two daughters of the Horse-leech which still crie Giue giue And the Wiseman pointing them forth vnto vs saith The one is Infernus The other Os Vuluae The Graue the one and Lust the other And the Wiseman did linke these two together with a great deale of conueniencie and fittingnesse for if Lust bee neuer satisfied the Graue lesse This truth is likewise made good forasmuch as the Scripture stileth Sinne Death If I doe this I must die the death So said Susanna to the Iudges that made vnlawfull and dishonest loue vnto her And Cain seeing himselfe charged with fratricide at that verie instant he gaue himselfe for a dead man Whosoeuer shall meet me will kill me Youth then beeing a house whereinto the raine doth drip so fast and at so many places it is no meruaile that life should cease and soone decay It is prouerbially said Loue is as strong as Death And as Loue doth vsually set vpon Youngmen so doth Death and where Loue striketh Youth Death may spare his Dart. The Antients painted a Youngman starke naked his eyes with a Vaile or Bend before them his right hand bound behind him and his left left at libertie and Time followi●● him close at the heeles and euer and anon pulling a thred out of the Vaile Hee was drawne naked to shew with what little secrecie hee had vsed his delights and pleasures with his right hand bound behind him to expresse that he did not doe any thing aright his left free and at libertie signifying that he did all things aukwardly and vntowardly he was portrayed blind because he doth not see his owne follies but Time goes opening his eyes by little and little day by day brings him to the true knowledge of his errors And he that was dead sate vp and began to speake The Dead presently obeyed the voyce of the Liuing And hee sate vp God cryeth out aloud to those that are dead in their Soules yet doe they not obey his voyce Arise thou that sleepest c. Hee began to giue thankes vnto him that had done him this so great a fauour Thou hast deliuered mee ô Lord from the doo●es of death and therefore I will celebrate thy prayses and magnifie thy name in the Gates amiddest the Daughters of Syon It is Saint Chrysostomes note That the word Doores is put here in the plurall number because many are the dangers out of which God deliuereth a sinner That all may speake of thy praise and talke of thy wondrous workes And there came a feare vpon all It may seeme to some That the word Loue would better haue become this place and beene fitter for this present purpose and occasion All a man would thinke should rather haue expressed their loues vnto him sung forth his prayses and offered their seruice vnto him In those former punishments of a World drowned and ouerwhelmed with Water of a Sodome burned and consumed with Fire it was verie fit and meet that it should strike feare and amasement into all But in such a case as this What should cause them to feare Hereunto I answer That nothing doth strike such a feare and terrour into man as the great and wonderfull mercies of God A Roman Souldier told Iulius Caesar It much troubles me nor can I be heart-merrie as oft as I thinke on the many fauours that I haue receiued from thy liberall hand but doe rather hold them as so many wrongs and iniuries done vnto me for they are so beyond all requitall that I must of force proue vngratefull which makes me to feare that thou wilt proceed against me for a heinous offendor in this kind In like manner so many are the mercies of God towards man and so infinite that they may be held as Vigiles of his future seuerer Iustice. Iacob did in a manner vtter the same sentence against himselfe Minor sum cunctis miserationibus tuis The least of thy mercies is greater than all my merits nor can the best seruices that I can doe thee make satisfaction for the least of those fauours which I haue receiued from thy bounteous liberalitie Grant ô Lord that what is wanting in our owne worthinesse may bee made vp in the mercies and merits of our Sauiour Iesus Christ To whom with the Father c. THE XXX SERMON VPON THE FRYDAY AFTER THE FOVRTH SVNDAY IN LENT IOHN 11.1 Erat quidam languens Lazarus Now a certaine man was sicke named Lazarus of Bethanie c. PEtrus Crysologus calls this Signum signorum Mirabile mirabilium Virtutem virtutum The signe of signes the wonder of wonders and the Vertue of vertues or the power of powers Saint Augustine Miraculorum maximum The myracle of myracles which of all other did most predicate and blazon forth Christs glorie Saint Hierome preferres it before all the rest that he wrought here vpon earth By this prenda or pledge of his Diuinitie Death remained confounded the Deuills affrighted and the lockes and barres of Hell broken Genebrard That it is the voice of a Crier which goes before a Triumpher who makes Death the triumphant Chariot of his Maiestie and glorie That a valiant Warriour should make a braue and gallant shew on horsebacke hauing his Courser adorned and set forth with curious and costly Caparisons it is not much but to seeme handsome and comely in Deaths palenesse weakenesse and foulenesse beeing so ghastly a thing to looke on God onely can doe this Ante faciem eius saith Abacuc ibit mors Death ●●all flie before his face Christ doth deliuer vs from a double death the one of the soule the other of the bodie He deliuered them from their distresses Death is swallowed vp in victorie He that drinketh takes the cup in his hand and doth therewith what it pleaseth him so did our Sauiour deale with Death therfore he called it a cup drinking the same vp at one draught wherein he dranke a health to all Beleeuers Saint Bernard vpon this occasion saith of him Mirabilis potator es tu Thou art a strange kind of drinker O Lord before thou tastedst of this cup thou saidst Transeat Let it passe and after thou hadst dranke thereof thou saidst Sitio I thirst The Flesh was afraid but the Spirit got the victorie ouer Death with that ease as a good Drinker doth of a good cup of drinke when he is verie thirstie In a word Not onely because this was a myracle wrought vpon a dead person that had lien foure dayes buried in his graue but because the sacrilegious councell of the Scribes and Pharisees had layd their heads together and plotted the death of our Sauiour Christ as also in regard of those other circumstances That the deceased