Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	darkness_n	light_n	shadow_n	7,372	5	9.4624	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28890	The light of the world a most true relation of a pilgrimess, M. Antonia Bourignon travelling towards eternity ... : divided into three parts ... / written originally in French, and faithfully translated into English ; to which is added, a preface to the English reader.; Lumiere du monde. English	Bourignon, Antoinette, 1616-1680.; Cort, Chrétien de, d. 1669.	1696 (1696)	Wing B3842; ESTC R36499	498,584	635

The Light of the World A most True Relation of a PILGRIMESS M. Antonia Bourignon Travelling towards ETERNITY Published by Mr. CHRISTIAN de CORT Late Director of the Isle of Noordstrand Superior of the Oratory and Pastor of S. John at Mechlin Divided into Three PARTS Which deserve to be Read Understood and Consider'd by all who desire to be Sav'd Written Originally in French and faithfully Translated into English To which is added A Preface to the English READER LONDON Printed in the Year 1696. ISAIAH ix 2. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined TO THE ENGLISH READER Of whatsoever Party or Perswasion THE Degeneracy of the Christian World in all its Sects and Parties from the true Spirit of Christianity and the primitive Institution of Jesus Christ is the general observation of all Men and the Regret of those who are truly sober and serious And as the Corruption of the best things is always the most vile and abominable witness Devils and Men so that of the Christians is a By-word and a Scandal among the Jews Turks and Heathens and they may rise up in Judgment at the last Day and condemn us we being sunk farther below the common Principles of Human Nature as well as Religion than themselves The Moral Vertues of Justice Temperance c. are banished farther from the Minds and Conversation of Christians than they are from among the Turks and Heathens and we are so far removed from the Spirit Life and Doctrin of Jesus Christ that ours may be truly term'd Antichristian He denied himself in all things and we deny our selves in nothing He never did his own Will but the Will of Him that sent him and we ever do our own and not the Will of God He was perfectly dead to the Honours and Riches and Pleasures and Learning of this World and we only live to them He had a toilsom and laborious Life far from Ease and full of Crosses of Contempt Reproaches and Contradictions from Men and we still seek our Ease where we can have it will force others to bear the Cross rather than take it up our selves and would rather be contemned by God than even for Righteousness-sake endure Reproaches and Contempt from Men He was meek and lowly in Heart and with great meekness suffer'd the Contradiction of Men and Pride and Haughtiness is the Spirit we are acted by even when we most disclaim it and we cannot bear with Contradictions from any without inward Resentment and Displeasure Whatever he did was always accompanied with Righteousness and Goodness and Truth and whatever we do has one or all of the contrary Qualities Injustice Malice or Hypocrisie In short Charity was the living Principle of his Heart and Life and all his Actions were continual Streamings and Effects of the Love of God and of all Men and Self-love even to a Contempt of God and Hatred of Men when they shock us in any thing is the secret Spring by which we are always acted The Lives of Christians are as flat a Contradiction to his Commands as to his Life and Spirit He bids us seek the lowest Place and we are never at rest but climb as high as others will let us He bids us take the Beam out of our own Eyes and we are still spying the Motes in our Neighbours He would not have us lay up for our selves Treasures upon Earth and all our Care is about earthly things He would have us seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and that is the last and least of our Endeavours except in Word only He bids us deny our selves and take up our Cross daily and in every thing we seek our selves and rather than take up the Cross will stick at no Injustice to avoid it He commands us to love one another and for a Trifle we bite and devour one another Now one would think strange how the Professors of Christianity can reconcile their Practice with the Hopes of Heaven while their Lives are so contrary to the Gospel But as the comparing the Lives and Temper of the Christian World at present with the Life and Doctrin of Jesus Christ does plainly shew their Contrariety to his So if we shall enquire into the several sorts of Corruption and Degeneracy of the Age wherein he lived recorded in the Gospel and which he did chiefly set himself against and upon what Grounds they nevertheless did presume of God's Favour and of being his Children and shall compare them with ours we still find the same Leaven spreads still and tho we have other Names yet we have still the same Corruptions and the same Spirit It is not in one Age or one party that these Corruptions do prevail but more or less in all Ages and among all Parties and tho' Names and Faces change yet in every Age Men's Natures and Dispositions are for the main the same It was not needful therefore that Jesus Christ should appear in every Age to make known their Vices and Corruptions the Reproof of the Age wherein he liv'd is the Reproof of all and what he said to the several Sects among the Jews he says to us and we may read our Faults and Judgment in theirs There are three sorts of Persons especially spoken of in the Gospel the Publicans and Sinners the Sadducees and the Scribes and Pharisees The first were gross and scandalous sinners known for such by all their Company avoided for that Reason and they self-condemn'd as acting against the Light and Checks of their own Consciences The second were the Wits and Sparks and mighty Men of Reason of that Age. They could not believe a Resurrection nor the being of Angels and Spirits these seem'd not consistent with their Reason nor with the Ideas they had of this present World and therefore they deny'd them even as if blind Men should deny the being of Light and Colours because they cannot feel them with their Hands nor touch them as they do other Bodies with the End of their Staff The third were the most Religious People of the Age wherein they liv'd they were had in great Veneration by all they were not guilty of the scandalous Vices of the Publicans they abhorr'd them so much that they would not eat with them they read and studied the Scriptures much they were much in Devotion and made long Prayers they were exact Observers of the Sabbath-day would reprove a Man that came to be heal'd or that pluck'd an Ear of Corn on it they were very exact and scrupulous in little things so afraid of breaking the Command of Paying Tithes of all their Increase that they would not omit even their Mint Anise and Cummin But in the mean time they despis'd the weighty Matters of the Law Righteousness Mercy and the Love of God they were Proud and covetous and wordly-minded they did all to be

Souls who are not sanctified are not truly Catholick neither will they be saved for their Religion since no Religion saves unless the Heart be truly Religious or truly Catholick In which also those who are called Quakers do greatly deceive themselves who through a foolish Imagination fancy that they are guided by the Holy Spirit as soon as they have begun to conform themselves to this Sect as if it had more Force to sanctifie Men than all the other Religions together even the most perfect none of which can save so much as one Soul For there is nothing that saves but the LOVE OF GOD and not a Religion Every one ought to hold the Religion that serves him as a Mean to attain to this LOVE without taking his Religion for the End of his Salvation if they would not be greatly deceived at Death thinking to plead their Religion which they imagine to be the best as the Quakers believe they have the Holy Spirit and so take the Name of Quakers tho they have him only by Imagination and false Persuasions and the Devil makes them believe they are better than all the rest of Men because they have quitted outwardly the gross Sins of Drunkenness Theft Lying and the like tho' in their Manners they be as vicious as others presuming that they have the Holy Spirit which they have not living in an Esteem of themselves and a Contempt of others calling themselves spiritual while they remain carnal despising all the Means of Piety and Devotion to adhere to their own Caprices and they imagine they are illuminated by the Holy Spirit when they are mov'd only by their own disorderly Passions which do often precipitate them into fruitless Sufferings and Persecutions with the Scandal of their Neighbour So that no body has Ground to believe that he shall be saved for being of the Quakers Opinion no more than the being of any other Sect or Religion since all these Names do nothing to the Salvation of Souls But to be sav'd of Necessity we must be renewed in the Life of God And the Scripture says Obedience is better than Sacrifice This shews that it 's better to be resigned entirely to the Will of God to be ruled thereby than to profess any Religion how good and holy soever we think it to be These material Bodies do not save the Soul but the Love that it bears to its God will save it and nothing else In which Men deceive themselves when they lay the Stress of their Salvation upon some means which they make use of to be saved How good soever these outward things be they give nothing to the Essence of the Soul which is wholly divine and spiritual and cannot attain to Salvation if it be not united to its God who created it for this End tho' the Blindness that Sin has brought upon Man's Spirit does not often persuade him that he shall be saved by other Means as by going oft to Church frequenting the Sacraments hearing many Preachings or spiritual Books or in being able to discourse of these things in giving to the Poor out of his Abundance in making long Prayers and so many other Actions which they call pious as if God to save us had need of these things Which is a great Delusion For it is only our Infirmity and Weakness that has need of these outward Things For it is written that the true Worshippers shall worship God in Spirit and in Truth and not in the Temple nor on the Mountain That is to say not in material Temples nor in Mountains of high Speculations but the Spirit and the Heart must be truly possest with the Love of God without which no body will be saved Not that I would reject or despise all these pious Means or good outward Works as these Reformed do blindly reject all sorts of good Works as evil since these good Works may serve as effectual Means to attain to this Love of God seeing the covetous Man mortifies his Avarice by giving his Goods to the Poor and he who cannot pray to God in his House for the Distraction of his Affairs does well to go to Church that he may be the more recollected Or he who feels more Compunction and Piety in his Soul in frequenting the Sacraments or has more inward and saving Light by going to Sermons or reading the Scripture or some other spiritual Book he is oblig'd to use all the Means which lead him to the Love of God without despising the least Mean that may help his Weakness in raising him to the Love of God since every one is oblig'd to seek the Means of his Perfections I blame only the Abuse that is made of these things in taking them for the End of Salvation whereas they are only Means to assist Humane Weakness which forgets easily Eternal and invisible things if she be not often put in Remembrance of them by outward things But I blame those who are so ignorant as to believe that they shall be saved for being of some Religion or for using the Sacraments and doing some good Work since these things do not sanctifie us being of themselves dead Works which cannot give Life to our divine Souls and the Devil himself might do all these outward things tho' he shall never be sav'd I believe indeed some captious Spirits will take Occasion to say that I am not truly Catholick in speaking against the Vse of the Sacraments and other Ceremonies of the Roman Church but I cannot preserve my self from the Calumny of partial Persons who love their Darkness rather than the Light that I offer them from God who has given me his Holy Spirit promis'd by Jesus Christ which teaches me all Truth since Jesus Christ himself could not avoid the being calumniated imprison'd persecuted and at last put to Death by means of the Jewish Priests who said they were in God's stead and sate in Moses's Chair as the Priests of all Religions say now While in the mean time they outragiously persecute the Truths which I learn immediately from God without Study without Meditation Discourse Reading or any other Means which would rather prove a Hindrance to me than an Illustration of the Light of the Holy Spirit who endites to me all things necessary for the Salvation of Souls and gives me also his Gift of Strength to bear joyfully those Persecutions and Outrages which these more than Pharisaical Priests exercise against me For they will not suffer that the Truth of God should come to light by any but themselves tho' they 've rendred themselves most unworthy of it because they will not apply themselves to the Imitation of Jesus Christ nor to the Sanctification of their Souls and if these be wanting they shall never understand the inward Voice of God 'T would be a great Vertue in them if at least they would suffer another to understand it But they can't attain to this Christian Vertue of rejoycing in the Good of another They

the Law of LOVING ONE GOD ONLY because we cannot love him only when we love our selves and whereas Men did not understand well the Contents of this Law Jesus Christ is come to explain it to us so particularly by all the Precepts of his Gospel that no body can be ignorant any longer how he ought to keep the Law of God and consequently work out his Salvation because this Gospel Law does precisely mark out to us all that we ought to do and to avoid So that we must not look any longer from any neither from God nor Men for other Instructions in order to our Salvation because Jesus Christ has omitted nothing nor said any thing that is superfluous but shewn us all things necessary for obtaining eternal Life Now consider Sir if you know any living this Day in the World who have entirely resign'd their Wills to that of God and who love no other thing but him If you do not know any be firmly persuaded that none within your Knowledge is in a State of Salvation And fearing lest you be deceived by this general Persuasion as many are who persuade themselves that they are resign'd to God and love none but him remark particularly if they observe the Gospel Law For we cannot observe the one without practising the other For he who has entirely resign'd his Will to that of God lives no longer to himself but God lives in him and works there all that Jesus Christ has taught seeing the same Spirit lives in one resign'd to God which lived in the Body of Jesus Christ There can never be any difference here being in both the same unchangeable God I said to her That this being supposed I had good Ground to fear that all the World was in a State of Damnation and I likewise but that I would get out of this Darkness and receive the Light that God should give me that I might follow him She said Sir you 'll be happy in doing it For otherwise it is to be feared you may perish with others because all the World goes on blindly to Perdition but the Light is now arisen in Darkness Do not reject it to love your Darkness rather than the Light but rather walk according to it while the Day doth last that is to say our short Life which is nothing but a Day in Comparison with Eternity The Night of this Day is our Death after which there is nothing more to do In whatsoever State we die we shall abide in it Therefore we ought not to let the Occasion slip that is now offered us Let not your felf be gained by Flatteries nor by false Persuasions Seek always the Truth For they who flatter us ruine us Look on all those as Flatterers who speak to you according to their sensual Inclinations and hold those for Deceivers who persuade you that you are a good Christian and that you will be saved after the Way that you live at present For there are no true Christians but those who follow and imitate the Life and Doctrine of Jesus Christ and there is no Salvation to be hop'd for but in keeping the Law of God You must take up with these two Things Sir if you wou'd attain to Salvation the Law of God and the Doctrine of Jesus The Holy Spirit which is now come into the World brings no new Law nor new Explications of it because Jesus Christ has sufficiently explained it He comes only to make the Law appear and the Sins that are opposite to it to the end that we may embrace the one and reject the other You have wondred sometimes that I told you so many evil Things of the Church and of spiritual Persons Believe me this was not but by the Light of the Holy Spirit that you might avoid the Evil in order to the doing well since you cannot love the one without hating the other Truth must always discern the one from the other or otherwise you will be easily deceived as all the World at present is who take Vice for Vertue and apparent for true good Therefore receive the true Light that you may judge uprightly and not according to the Appearance of Things For the Devil is so covered with Virtue and cloathed with Hypocrisie that he deceives even those of the best Dispositions There are frequently so many false Goods in the World that we do not distinguish them from the true And that we may not come to discover them he puts some Scruples in the Minds of good Men that they may not believe the Truth of the Evil and makes his Adherents teach that 't is a Sin of Detraction to discover the Faults of Priests and of those who make a Profession of Vertue that their Sins remaining secret they may deceive the more and may commit them more honourably and they say that a Man should take his own Garments to cover the sins of the Priests That you may see that this Doctrine comes from the Devil you need but mark what Jesus Christ did in such Encounters whether he covered with his Garments the Sins of the Popes Bishops and Priests who were in his time We will find that he declared them openly before all the World calling them Hypocrites Generation of Vipers wicked Sepulchres and so many other Names to the end he might declare to People their Wickedness that they might beware of them For he says beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees and of those who come to you in Sheeps Cloathing and inwardly are ravening Wolves All this with many other Evils Jesus Christ spoke of the Priests of his time and now they teach that we must honour them and speak well of them tho' they live ill Does not this Doctrine oppose that of Jesus Christ and therefore it is Antichristian Nevertheless you Sir with so many others think you commit a Sin to hear the Truth of Evil. 'T is by this false Piety that the Devil takes his Advantage For their Evils being conceal'd they commit them more than if they were discovered because Shame and Humane Respect wou'd with-hold them from Sin and also the Good and Pious wou'd not be so easily deceived as they are by the good Opinion of Evil which often draws in the Good by Ignorance who are persuaded that they who have the Reputation of being good wou'd not do Evil. How many thousand have been deceived after this manner Take heed that you never be one of these but stay yourself on the living Rock which is Jesus Christ He cannot deceive nor fail Take up with his Instructions Sir and follow them You 'll be sure of your Salvation which otherwise I cannot promise you Whatever Men say they are not our Saviours For it is written Wo to the Man that put his Confidence in Man He is truly miserable who grounds his Salvation on the Words and Sentiments of Men who can give us nothing but vain Hopes founded on