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
A41688	The court of the gentiles. Part IV. Of reformed philosophie wherein Plato's moral and metaphysic or prime philosophie is reduced to an useful forme and method / by Theophilus Gale.	Gale, Theophilus, 1628-1678.	1677 (1677)	Wing G142; ESTC R25438	525,579	570

and influence whence they consecrated the Laurel to Apollo which signified with them the heat and influence of the Sun the Laurel being a Plant as they say hot and alwaies green Such a soverain efficace did the Grecian Philosophers ascribe unto the Sun in regard of its influence not only on Plants but also on animal Bodies and therefore it is deservedly made by Plato a symbolic image of Gods efficacious Concurse on al create Beings and Operations Thus in sacred Philosophie we find Christ as the first cause of al Grace compared to the Sun and his gracious influxe to the beams of the Sun So Mal. 4.2 Mal. 4.2 But unto you that fear my Name shal the Sun of righteousnesse arise with healing in his wings and ye shal go forth and grow up as calves of the stal Christ here as the first original Spring of al Grace and compared to the Sun whence he is said to arise with healing in his wings i. e. his Beams for the Beams of the Sun are its wings whereby it conveighs an healing prolific influence to althings that have life The Sun indeed vouchsafeth warme efficacious influences to al natural bodies both vegetable and animal it has an universal prolific influence on al sublunarie bodies Thence it 's said Psal 19.6 Psal 19.6 And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof i. e. it s warme benigne influxe reacheth as some conceive unto al natural effects even to the very Minerals and Metals But certain it is that Vegetables and Plants are greatly influenced by the Sun Job 8.16 Hence that Job 8.16 He is green before the Sun Whence is the beautie of Roses the delicious suavities of Fruits the medicinal virtues of Herbes the nourishment of Corne the fatnesse of Olives the cordial and heart-reviving influences of Grapes but from the Sun So for the animal life are not al Insects produced by the Sun Yea doth not the health strength vivacitie and comforts of mans bodie receive much influence from the efficacious beams of the Sun as Job 30.28 Eccles 11.7 Is not then the Sun both in Sacred and Platonic Philosophie made an apt Symbol to represent the efficacious Concurse of God as the first cause of althings but more specially of supernatural effects O! what Soul-reviving influences are there in the warme beams of Divine concurse What universal inexhaustible infinite treasures of Divine light and heat are there in the Sun of Righteousnesse Are not his beams the light of life as Joh. 8.12 Psal 84.11 Such is the efficace of Divine concurse There is moreover a great emphase and elegance in that phrase Mal. 4.2 And ye shal go forth and grow up as calves of the stal i.e. as weak feeble Calves which in the winter by reason of the cold are kept in the stal at spring when they go forth and sport themselves under the warme healing beams of the Sun how greatly do they grow and thrive so the sick infirme friends of Christ when they lie under the warme refreshing corroborating influences of his medicinal Grace Yea this efficacious soverain Grace doth not only cure infirme consumtive Souls but also give life to dead Souls Thus Esa 9.2 The people that walked in darkenesse have seen a great light Esa 9.2 they that dwel in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined 1 This Prophecie refers to our Lords first Preaching among those that inhabited the land of Zabulon and Nephthali mentioned v. 1. and so applied Mat. 4.14 15 16. who were indeed at the coming of our Lord under very black Egyptian darkenesse whence they are said to walke in darkenesse 2 They are said to dwel in the land of the shadow of death 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they that dwel denotes a fixed immobile state not only of such as travel or passe throwo a countrie but of inhabitants Then 2 we have the place of their habitation the land of the shadow of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the shadow of death whereby we may understand either a deadly shade such as by the dampe thereof strikes dead which is very frequent in some darke cavernes of the Earth or else by the shadow of death we may understand the Grave which is the darke shadowy habitation of the dead as Job 10.21 the Grave is stiled the land of darkenesse and the shadow of death And look as dead men are loged in the darke shadowy Grave so were these dead Souls in the land of Zabulon and Nephthali loged in the Grave of sin under the darke deadly shade thereof which implies a total privation of spiritual light and life Now 3 on these dead Souls dwelling in the Grave of sin the light shined i. e. Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse arose with healing under his wings or warme beams of efficacious Grace Yea how oft doth this omnipotent heart quickening Grace picke out the worst of sinners as fit mater to exert its soverain efficace on Esa 19.18 Thus Esa 19.18 In that day i. e. when the Sun of Righteousnesse shal arise on Egypt with healing under his wings shal five cities in the land of Egypt speake the language of Canaan i. e. be converted to God and swear to the Lord of Hostes i. e. bind themselves inviorably to Christ by an Oath of Allegeance and Supremacie one shal be called the Citre of Destruction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render the Citie of Destruction is rendred by Grotius Gataker and other Critics the Citie of the Sun called by the Grecians who possessed it Heliopolis which the Hebrews expressed by Bethsenes the house of the Sun i. e. consecrated to the Sun their principal God which was with al manner of idolatric Rites worshipped in this Citie For Herodotus assures us that this Citie Heliopolis was one of the sixe unto which the Egyptians used at some solemne times to repair out of al parts to celebrate the Worship of the Sun because here was their renowned Temple of the Sun as also Mnevis one of their sacred Buls which they worshipped as God of which see Court Gent. P. 1. B. 2. C. 8. § 9. Now this Heliopolis so much addicted to and immersed in Idolatrie is made one of the principal objects on which the Sun of Righteousnesse should arise with healing under his wings or beams of efficacious medicinal Grace So v. 22. And the Lord shal smite Egypt he shal smite and heal it and they shal returne even unto the Lord c. What! shal Egypt yea the most idolatrous Citie of Egypt Heliopolis be healed by the soverain Grace of the Sun of Righteousnesse O! what a potent demonstration is this of the omnipotent efficace of medicinal Grace May not this Argument be further promoved by a reflexion on these Britannic Iles and their prodigiose Idolatrie when the Sun of Righteousnesse at first arose on them with healing under his wings of Evangelic medicinal Grace But for the more ful explication

the more intimately it adheres to him The motion of the Soul towards its last end is much stronger than that towards the means and therefore the adherence is the greater What more natural than for a rational Creature to adhere to its last end And O what perfection ariseth hence To be drawen by God as our last end is to be drawen by our most noble perfect and best self and therefore this speaks not only Subjection but blessed Constitution and Perfection § 3. Having summed up Plato's Philosophemes of the last End The chiefest Good its Proprieties we now procede to his Contemplations of the chiefest Good which hath intimate connexion therewith His main Discourses of the chiefest Good he layes down in his Philebus his Convivium 1. It is the Idea of Good and de Repub. l. 26. c. 9. we shal reduce the whole to these following proprieties 1. Plato stiles the chiefest Good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Idea of al good So in his Philebus having proposed this Question Wherein the chiefest Good consistes he resolves it into the Idea of Good Which he elsewhere stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Good meaning the chiefest He termes the chiefest good the Idea of al good 1 because it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a self-sufficient Good yea Goodnesse it self in the abstract i. e. al Good pure Good Good by himself and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfectly Good The chiefest Good is Good by his own Goodnesse and not by any participated Goodnesse Whence some of the Platonists stile him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 superessential Goodnesse Where ever is the chiefest Good there is the Essence of Good Goodnesse in the abstract and the chiefest Good are convertible you cannot find the one but you 'l find the other also Whatever good is predicable of any Creature is in the chiefest Good in the abstract and al know that Abstracts speak Formes and Essences So that the chiefest Good must needs be essential Goodnesse in the abstract and thence by consequence al Good in Idea Thus Basil in Psal 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The self-good or Ideal good is really blessed unto which al look and which al desire as the measure of al good 2 Plato stiles the chiefest Good the Idea of Good because he is both the prime Efficient and Exemplar of al Good 1 He is the prime Efficient of al good As al Creatures flow from and reflow to God as the Ocean or plenitude of al Being so also their Goodnesse participates of the like fluxe from and refluxe to the Divine Goodnesse No Creature hath any good in it further than it partakes of the chiefest Good whatever you possesse if you want the chiefest Good you possesse nothing Hence 2 the chiefest Good is the measure of al Good Every thing is so far good to us as it corresponds with and refers to the chiefest Good So Plato Repub. 2. pag. 357. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We love the chiefest Good for its own sake as also althings else that flow from it meaning the chiefest Good is the only measure of our love So Arist. Rhet. l. 1. c. 7. makes that the chiefest Good which is chosen for it self and thence the measure of al good 2. The chiefest Good according to Plato is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. The chiefest Good the first Beautie Beautie it self or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Beautie So in his Conviv pag. 210. Whosoever is brought thus far to contemplate things beautiful rightly and in their order arriving to the end of things lovely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shal immediately contemplate that wonderful native Beautie for the sake of which we have hitherto undertaken al our labors Wherein he teacheth us that we may not fixe our eyes only on these inferior Beauties but by them as by so many ascents mount up to the contemplation of the first supreme Beautie which is our chiefest good That the prime Beautie is the chiefest good wil be most evident if we look into the nature of Beautie as opened by Plato who makes al Beautie to consiste 1 in Symmetrie and Proportion So in his Timaeus pag. 87. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every Good is beautiful and what is beautiful cannot want measure order or proportion Aquinas makes this difference between Bonitie and Beautie that Bonitie or Goodnesse properly regards the Wil but Beautie the Eye and Understanding thence beautiful colors arise from that varietie and convenance which is in them to please the eye That Symmetrie is essential to Beautie Timaeus tels us p. 103. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Principes of Beautie are Symmetrie or proportion of parts c. Thence Plato Leg. 3. makes Wisdome to be most beautiful because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chiefest of Symphonies or Harmonies So Conviv pag. 205. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wisdome is the greatest of Beauties Now Plato Conviv pag. 211. saith The chiefest Good is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it self with it self the most uniforme and simple Being and therefore most beautiful Again is Wisdome most beautiful because most concordant with it self And is not God the chiefest Good also the most uniforme Wisdome The proportion required to Beautie is wel expressed by Sales de l'Amour de Dieu l. 1. c. 1. Union saith he establisht in distinction makes order order breeds convenance agreament and proportion and convenance in things entire and accomplisht makes Beautie An Armie is beautiful when it is composed of al its parts so ranked together in their order that their distinction is reduced to that agreament which they ought to have together To make Music beautiful there is required not only that the voices be clear and wel distinguished but also that they be conjoined in such sort one to t'other that they make one just consonance and harmonie by means of the union that is in the distinction and the distinction that is in the union of the voices which may deservedly be called a discordant Accord or rather an accordant Discord Hence 2 Al Beautie ariseth from Perfection and Integritie of parts Those things are most beautiful in their kind which are most perfect And is not the chiefest Good most absolutely and simply perfect 3 The last and main Cause of Beautie is Splendor Light and Claritie Thence Beautie is defined by Plato the Fulgor and Lustre of Good Splendor and Brightnesse is essential to Beautie to the end that it may be visible or intelligible Obscurities Shadows and Darknesses are deformed and render althings deformable because nothing in them is visible or intelligible neither order nor distinction nor union nor convenance So Job 10.22 in the description of the grave he saith It is a land of darknesse as darknesse it self and of the shadow of death without any order and where the light is as darknesse i.e. There is no light therefore no order and beautie Light gives life to brightnesse which is but a dead inutile