Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bring_v	die_v	sin_n	9,905	5	5.1845	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A08062	The nature of man A learned and usefull tract written in Greek by Nemesius, surnamed the philosopher; sometime Bishop of a city in Phœnicia, and one of the most ancient Fathers of the Church. Englished, and divided into sections, with briefs of their principall contents: by Geo: Wither.; On the nature of man. English	Nemesius, Bp. of Emesa.; Wither, George, 1588-1667.	1636 (1636)	STC 18427; ESTC S113134	135,198	716

soules from body to body as also by the places which they affirmed to bee allotted out unto the Soules departed according to their good or evill course in this life and by those punishments wherwith soules are as they hold punished by themselves for the offences they have committed For these things although they be erroneous in other circumstances and respects yet in this they are true and their authors do all agree therein that the soule remaineth after this life and shall come to Iudgement But if wee cannot attaine unto the reason of that governance which providence hath over particular things which indeed we cannot as is implyed by this text How unsearchable are thy judgements and thy wayes past finding out Let us not therupon conclude there is no such providence For no man ought to affirme there is neither sea not sand because he is ignorant of the limits of the Sea and of the number of the sands seeing by the same rule they might aswell say that there is neither man nor any other living-creature because they know not the number either of the men or of the living-creatures Particular things are to us infinite Things which are unto us infinite and also unknowne unto us and therefore though universalls may be oftentimes comprehended by our understanding yet individualls are not possibly comprehensible thereby There is in every man a double difference one in respect of other men and another in respect of himselfe yea there is in every man great differences and alterations even in respect of himselfe Every day as in the maner of his life in his actions or affaires in his necessities in his desires and in all things which doe happen or pertaine unto him It is not much otherwise with an irrationall-creature for according to the manifold necessities and occasions thereof it is very speedily caried hither and thither and soon altered againe as other opportunities require These things considered that Providence which is able to keep a continuall course with every one of those infinite and incomprehensible particulars which are so differing also so changeable and of so many fashions must needs be such a Providence as is agreeable to all and every one of those individualls and extended more infinitely then those things are whereunto it should reach And if this Providence must be so fit and so infinite in regard of the infinite difference of individualls no doubt but the reason and method of this Providence is as infinite and if it be infinite it cannot possibly bee comprehended by us And it becomes not us to deny that gracious providence which governes all things because our ignorance is unable to comprehend it For those things which wee suppose to be amisse are knowne well enough unto the wisdome of the Creator to be well ordered Because wee are ignorant of their occasions we causelesly judge many things to be imprudently done and that which chanceth unto us in other things by reason of our ignorance falleth out also in the workes of providence for we doe after the same sort cōceive of those things which belong to providence receiving by obscure likelihoods and by conjectures certaine formes or shadowes of the workes thereof by such things as we have seene Wee say therefore that some things are done by Gods permission and this permission is of many sorts For he sometime permits that even the just man shall fall into misery to declare unto others that vertue which is concealed as in Iob. Hee doth also permit some absurd things that by the act which appeareth to bee absurd some great and wonderfull matter may bee brought to passe as the salvation of men by the Crosse Hee permits likewise the blessed Saints to be afflicted for another end as that they might not fall from a sincere conscience and that the loftinesse of the minde might be abated as when S t. Paul was buffetted by Satan Sometimes also one man is rejected and left as desolate for a time that others considering his case might be instructed and amended thereby As in the example of Lazarus and the rich man for when we see any man afflicted our hearts are naturally touched therewith according as Menander hath very well expressed By seeing others feele the Rod We tremble with a fear of GOD. Otherwhile again one man is afflicted for the glory of another and neither for his owne sin nor the sinne of his Parents as he that was blind from his birth for the glorifying of the Son of man It is permitted also that some should be persecuted to be a pattern of constancy unto others and that when their glory is exalted others might be incouraged to suffer in the like case in hope of the glory to come and for the blessednesse which is expected after this life as in the Martyrs and in those who have yeelded up their lives for their Country for their kinred or for their masters SECT 5. I. One may otherwhile be afflicted for the good of another without infringing the Justice of divine Providence Why holy men suffer bitter deaths and persecutions II. Death or sufferings are no disadvātages to good men neither are the unlawfull actions of the wicked justifiable though Providence convert thē to good ends NOw if any one thinke it against reason that one man should be afflicted for the amendment of another let him know that this life is not the perfection of mans happinesse but a place of wrestlings and of striving for mastery in respect of Vertue And the greater the labours and sufferings are the more glorious Crown of Glory shall be obtained because the recompence of Rewards is according to the measure of Patience Saint Paul was contented to undergoe the manifold afflictions and tribulations which he suffered that he might obtain the greater and more perfect Crown of a Conquerour which he himself confesseth to be more then all our sufferings can merit and therefore the works of Providence are justly and very decently performed A man may the better allow this to be so and conceive that GOD governs all things so well and so fitly that the nature of each thing cannot more desire if he doe but propose unto himself the beleeving of these two things which are generally confessed among men namely that GOD onely is good and wise For in that he is Good it is agreeable unto his goodnesse to employ his providence over all things and in that he is wise he hath a regard to performe them wisely and exactly because if he used not his Providence he could not be good and if he did not use it well hee could not be wise He therefore that gives his minde to consider discreetly of these matters will not misesteem of any thing which is wrought by divine providence neither speak evill thereof without due examination but rather accept of all things as exceeding well performed and marvaile at their admirable decency and perfection though the ignorant multitude judge according to a false appearance For in conceiving otherwise wee bring upon our heads besides the guilt of blasphemy great blame for our sottish presumption Now in that wee say all things are done well wee justifie not the naughtinesse of men or of such evill works as are in our power to doe or leave undone but we speak it of the works of Providence which are not in our power For if any man object and say How falls it out that holy men are put cruelly to death without desert why if they were unjustly condemned did not Gods just providence hinder those murthers and if they deserved to be so put to death why are not they without blame who caused them to bee slaine To this we answer that the murtherers of such men were injurious in slaying them and that they which were so slain were slain either for their desert or their profit Somtime deservingly for evills committed by them in secret and sometimes for their profit Gods providence thereby preventing either future sins or worse mischiefes to come and in those respects it was good for them that their life should be shortned Thus was it with Socrates and the Saints But they who slew these men did not slay them for any such cause neither was it lawfully done but out of the corruption of their owne minds and for gain and robbery For the Act is in mans power but what shall follow upon the Act as whether we shall be slain or no is not as he will neither is any death evill except for sinne onely as is manifest by the death of the Saints But wicked men although they die in their beds on a sudden and without pain doe neverthelesse die an evill death which brings them unto an evill buriall I meane to bee buried in their sinne yet whosoever killeth any man murtherously doth wickedly in so doing If hee killeth any one for that which deserveth death he is then to be accounted among hangmen and executioners If it be for the gaining of some profit by them that are slaine he is to be reputed among cruell and wicked murtherers The like may be said of them who murther their enemies or oppresse them by extreame servitude or use any manner of inhumane cruelty against them whom they have overcome They also are as little to be justified who seeke the inriching of themselves by extorting other mens goods for though it may be expedient for those from whom they were extorted that they should be deprived of them yet they which wrested away more then their owne were unjust in so so doing For they take them out of a covetous desire of those good and not for that it was expedient for them whō they dispossessed of such things Glory be to God FINIS

into one and as it were to hold them fast united And this we say is done by the SOUL Now if the SOUL be corporeall let it be what Body you please yea though it be a body consisting of the most thin and subtile parts what will you say holds that together as that knitteth the Bodie in One For as we declared before every Bodily thing hath need of some other thing to fasten the parts of it together yea the Bodie of this SOUL that knits together our visible BODIE if we should grant the same to be a corporeall SOUL and the next to that also infinitely it would still have need of some other thing to knit and fasten its own parts together untill an incorporeall-essence were found out If they answer as the Stoicks doe that there is a certaine motion pertaining unto Bodies extending both to the inward and outward parts of the Body That the motion tending outward effects the quantity and the qualities of the Body and that the motion tending inward is cause both of uniting the body and of the essence thereof wee will then aske them seeing every motion doth proceed from some power what kinde of power it is which that motion hath in what consisteth it and what gives essence thereunto If this power bee a certaine matter which the Greekes call Hylen wee will use the same reasons against them which wee objected before If they say it is not matter but a materiall thing for matter and materiall things thus differ That which hath matter in it is called a materiall thing wee then aske them whether that which hath matter in it be likewise matter or void of matter If they say it is matter we demand how it can be both materiall and matter If they answer that it is not matter then they must grant it to be void of matter and if it be void of matter wee will easily prove it to be no Body because every body hath matter in it If they alleage that Bodies have the three Dimensions in them and that the SOUL extending it selfe through the whole Body hath in it also the three Dimensions and therefore must necessarily be a Body wee will then thus answer them It is true that all BODIE' 's have in them the three Dimensions but every thing having the three Dimensions is not a BODY For place and Quality which in themselves have no Body have accidentally a Quantity if they bee in such things as have magnitude In like maner the SOUL in respect of it selfe is utterly void of the Dimensions but accidentally it hath Dimensions because the Body in which it is having in it the three Dimensions wee so conceive it together with the Body as though the Soule also had in it the three Dimensions We argue further and say thus Every Body hath his motion either from without it selfe or from within If the motion bee from without it selfe it must then be void of life if it be from within it selfe it must be indued with life now it is absurd to say that the SOUL is either indued with life or without life one of which must necessarily be affirmed if the Soule bee a corporeall substance therefore the soule cannot be a corporeal Essence Againe the SOUL if it be nourished it is nourished by that which is void of Body for knowledge is the nourishment thereof but no corporeal essence is norished by things bodiless therefore the SOUL cannot be a Body Xenocrates thus concluded this argument If said hee the SOUL be not nourished it cannot be a corporeal-substance because the Body of every living-creature must be nourished Thus much in generall in confutation of all those who generally affirm that the SOUL is a bodily thing Now we will treate particularly against them who are of opinion that the SOUL is either Blood or Breath because when either Blood or Breath is taken away the living-creature dyeth Wee will not say as some well accounted of have written that part of the SOUL falleth away when any part of the blood faileth if the SOUL be the Blood for that were but a slender answer In those things which have every part of like nature with the whole the part remaining is the same with the whole Whether the water bee much or little it is every way perfect water In like maner gold silver and every other thing whose parts do not essentially differ from each other are still the same as is afore said And even so that part of blood which remaineth of what quantity soever may be called the SOUL aswell as the whole quantity if the blood be the SOUL We therfore will rather answer them thus If that be rightly accounted the SOUL upon whose taking away the death of the living creature ensues then should it needs bee that flegme and the two choller 's must be also the SOUL seeing if any one of these faileth it brings the living-creature to his death The like falleth out in the Liver in the Braine in the Heart in the Stomach the Reines the Entrails and in many other parts whereof if you bereave a living-creature it will immediatly perish Moreover there are many things without blood which have life in them neverthelesse as some smooth and gristly fishes some also of a softer kind to wit Sepiae Teuthides and Smyli as the Greekes call them and Lobsters Crabs Oysters and all shel-fish whether they have hard or soft shells Now if these things have a living-Soule in them as we know they have and yet are void of blood then it plainely followes that blood cannot bee the SOUL Against those who say that water is the Soule many things may bee said to disprove their opinion though water helps to quicken and nourish all things and though it bee as they say impossible to live without water Wee cannot live without nourishment and therefore if their assertion bee true wee may aswell affirme that all nourishment in generall and every particular nourishment is the SOUL And whereas they have said that no living-creature can live without water wee finde the contrary to bee probable for it is written of some Aegles and of Partridges that they live without drinke And why should water be the SOUL rather then ayre Seeing it is possible to abstaine from water very long whereas wee can hardly live a moment without breathing the Aire And yet neither is Aire the SOUL For there are many creatures which live without breathing the Aire as all Insectae riveted creatures such as Bees Wasps and Ants as also all bloodlesse creatures all those which live in the waters and such as have no Lungs For none of those things that are without Lungs can breath Aire The proposition is true also if it be converted There is no creature having Lungs which doth not breath aire SECT 2. I. The arguments of Cleanthes the Stoick affirming the SOUL to bee corporeall are here confuted logically and by demonstration II. Chrysippus intending to

with any violent motions And the flesh was made to be a covering to the other parts that it might coole the living-creature in the summer by being as it were a morning dew thereunto and that it might in the winter bee as it were a quilt of wooll to the parts of the body The skin was ordained as a covering both for the tender flesh and all those parts that are inward The flesh is of a nature hardened like a scar by reason of the aire which compasseth it about and by meanes of those other bodies wherewithall it is conversant The bones are an undersetting to the whole body and especially the chine of the back which is termed the foundation of a living creature The nailes are most commonly used to scratch withall by every living-creature which hath nails and they are also for sundry particular uses to divers living-creatures For they are given to many for a defence as to those which have crooked talons and they be as it were an instrument to execute anger Many have them both for a weapon of defence and also for a strengthening to their feet as horses and all such as divide not the hoofe But nailes are bestowed on men not onely to scratch themselves withall and that they might by so doing disperse the sharp moisture which is under the skin but that they might also take the firmer hold of small things For by help of them a very small thing may be taken up because their meeting one against another at the very ends of the fingers enables to the taking of firme hold The haires grow out accidentally with other things by the meeting together of such fumy vapours as ascend out of the body and yet the Creator made not their accidentall generation without some profitable use for they serve both to cover and beautifie living-creatures They are a covering for goats and sheep they are an ornament unto men and they are both a covering and an ornament to Lions CAP. 29. I. Of things done voluntarily and against our will II. Of the definition of an action and of the circumstances which accompany and follow an action III. Of the marks both of a voluntary and involuntary action I Have often made mention of things done voluntarily and by constraint of which somwhat must be now expressed lest errors may be occasioned through want of an exact knowledge of these But hee that undertaketh to discourse of things done voluntarily and against our will must in the first place set downe some assured rules and certaine tokens wherby it may be well discerned whether the thing done be unquestionably voluntary or against our will Seeing therefore that every voluntarie thing consisteth in some action seeing moreover that all those things which are said to be done against our will consist in action also as shall bee anon declared and seeing likewise some think that the thing which is done against our will consisteth both in action passion we wil before we proceed further define what an action is An action is the actuall doing of any thing with the use of reason After all actions there followeth either praise or dispraise Some actions are exercised with pleasure and some with griefe Some are to bee chosen by the doer and some are to be avoided Of thē which are to bee chosen some are at all times to be made choice of some at one time rather then at another The same circumstances are considerable in such actions as are to bee eschewed also and this moreover is observable that some actions are pittied some pardoned some hated and some punished Now then let these be the markes to discern the things which are willingly done namely that praise or dispraise alwaies follow them that they are done with pleasure and that the actions are to bee chosen by the doers of them either at all times or at those times in which they are done The notes of involuntary actions are these They are vouchsafed pardon or they are pittied or they are done with griefe and they are not done by our owne choice These things being thus defined and ordered wee will first speake of such things as are done against our will CAP. 30. I. The definition of an involuntary act II. The solution of certaine questions concerning mixt actions and an advise what is to bee done when we know not what action to choose III. Things done by inconstancy by intemperancy or anger are not to be reputed things done against our will SUch things as are done against our wil are either done by constraint or of ignorance The beginning of those actions which are done against our will by force is without our selves that is some other thing and not we our selves is the cause thereof and therefore this is the definition of that thing which is done against our will by force It is an action not having the beginning thereof in him which doth it and he which is forced thereunto doth nothing to further the same of his owne will Wee meane in this place by the beginning the cause-effecting the thing done Hereupon it may bee questioned when Shipmen cast their lading into the sea when they are endangered by a tēpest or when a man is contented to suffer or doe some dishonest thing to save his friend or his country whether these actions may be said to bee done against their will or no. And according to this clause added to the definition Hee that is forced doth nothing to further the matter of his owne will these actions do seeme to be voluntary because to the executing of such things the actors doe of themselves move their instrumentall parts even of their owne accord Such is their case who cast their lading into the Sea and theirs who offer themselves to abide any shame or danger to bring to passe a greater good as did Zeno who bitt off his owne tongue and spit it out into the face of Dionysius the tyrant because he would not utter unto him what was to bee kept secret or as did Anaxarchus the Philosopher who chose to be tormented unto death by being rowled up together like a wheele rather then hee would disclose the secret of his friend unto Nicareon the Tyrant Therefore generally when a man either chooseth a lesse evill through feare of some greater evil or when a man accepts the lesse Good in hope of a greater Good which he cannot otherwise attaine according as hee would that thing which in such cases he doth or suffereth is not utterly against his will for he doth or suffers by his owne advise and choice and such things are to bee made choice of at that time though they be not to bee chosen of their owne nature These are mixt actions partly voluntary and partly against our will For they are voluntary in respect of the circumstances but they are involuntary in regard of the actions themselves and were it not for the circūstances no man would make choice of doing