Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	day_n	die_v	eat_v	5,786	5	6.8715	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26306	The art of knowing one-self, or, An enquiry into the sources of morality written originally in French, by the Reverend Dr. Abbadie.; Art de se connoître soi-même. English	Abbadie, Jacques, 1654-1727.; T. W.	1695 (1695)	Wing A45; ESTC R6233	126,487	286

transient ●nd finite Happiness For no less than an ●nfinite succession of Duration bears a pro●ortion to this infinite succession of Percep●ions Thoughts and Desires of which Man ●nds himself naturally capable Let us then conclude That 't is in the Immortal Man that we discover the Nature the Perfections and the End of Man which make up his natural Dignity But as the Nature and Perfections of Man have given us a prospect of his End so his End informs us what are his Duties and natural Obligations which we shall consider in the following Chapter CHAP. II. Where we endeavour to know Man by considering the Nature and Extent of his Duties OUr Duties flow from Nature and owe not their Birth to Education as some Men imagine To make out this we need but suppose Two Principles The First is That we naturally love Our selves being sensible of Pleasure hating Evil desiring Good and taking care of our Preservation The Second is That together with this Propensity to love our selves Nature hath given us a Faculty of Reason to conduct and guide us We love our selves naturally this is ● sensible Truth We are capable of Reason this is a Truth of Fact Nature inclines us to make use of our Reason for directing this Love of our selves this most necessarily rises from the Principles of this latter it being impossible for us to love our selves really without employing all our Lights to search for what is agreeable to us Now from thence that Nature orders us to search for our own Good it follows that Man cannot be said without an evident Contradiction to be void of Duty and Law We must grant an Essential Difference be●wixt Moral Good and Evil since the former consists in obeying the Law of reasona●le Nature the other in breaking it This natural Law in general may be di●ided into Four others which are its par●icular Species the Law of Temperance which obliges us to avoid Excesses and De●aucheries that ruine our Body and injure ●ur Soul the Law of Justice which inclines ●s to render unto every Man his due and ●o by others as we would they should do by ●s the Law of Moderation which pro●ibites Revenge knowing that we cannot do 〈◊〉 but at our own Cost and that to respect ●n this case the Rights of God is to take ●are of our selves and lastly the Law of ●eneficence which engages us to do Good ●o our Neighbour 'T is certain that the Immortality of Man ●akes the Perfection and Extent of these ●our kinds of Laws He who knows himself under the Idea of an immortal Being will not place his End in those Pleasures which the Author of Nature affixes to that which causes the Preservation or Propagation of the Body We shall not desire to injure other Men if we do not only fear a return of Justice in this Life but if moreover we dread the doing to our selves by that means an eternal Prejudice Whosoever is buisy'd as he ought about his Natural Dignity which undoubtedly raises him far above the Abuses he can possibly receive will be so far from satisfying himself at the Expence of God's Glory that he will hardly conceive any Resentment how ill soever he be dealt with Lastly if this Natural and Temporal Communion which we have with Men in Society be capable of producing any mutual Benevolence which is intended and encreas'd according to the Degree of the Temporal Commerce we entertain with them what Motives of Love and Beneficence do we not discover in the Idea of this Eternal Society which we ought and can have with them Thus the Natural Law is in Man but the Perfection and Extent of this Law is in the Immortal Man But these Four kinds of Laws do constitute what we call the Law of Nature which is the most Ancient most General most Essential of all and the Foundation of the rest 'T is the most Ancient Seeing that the Love of our selves and Reason are antecedent in us to all manner of Inclinations and Laws 'T is the most General For there have been many Men who never heard of Reveal'd Right but never did any come into the World without this Law which inclines 'em to search for their proper Good 'T is the most Essential For this is neither the Jewish nor Christian simply taken it is the Law of Men it does not belong only to the Law or simply to the Gospel but to Nature in what State soever it be Lastly 't is the Foundation of all the rest This plainly appears if we consider That all other Laws are nothing else but the Law of Nature renewed and adapted to certain Conditions of Men you discover the Natural Law in that which God gave to our First Parents The Legislator does there suppose that Man loves himself seeing that his Law is grounded upon Promises and Threatnings Good and Evil are set before him he is enlighten'd to know the one and the other He is engag'd to the Acknowledgment and Gratitude which Nature it self prescribes to us God requires an Homage of him in token of those many Favours he bestows upon him and this Homage consists in abstaining from ●he Fruit of One only Tree the Duty of his preservation is prescribed to him In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye the Death As also the Law of Justice for what is more just than to yield to the Creator the Empire and Dominion over his Creatures and not to gape at the use of his Creatures whether he will or no. This then is the Law of Nature accommodated to the Condition wherein Adam was at that time placed Indeed he could not be as yet prohibited the use of Idols which were unknown to him nor Blaspheming the Name of the Lord when he had but just began to Bless it nor to rest one Day of the Week who was to rest always nor the Killing his Neighbour that was not yet in Being nor committing Adultery when there was but one Woman in the World nor Stealing when he was Master of all Things nor bearing false Witness when he could bear it against no one but himself nor Coveting since all Things were his own But when Men were multiplied upon the Earth as their Condition chang'd God from time to time made new Editions of this Natural Law and gave it to Men under another Form because it was to be proportion'd to their particular Circumstances for which Reason it must not be imagin'd that when we say the Decalogue contains the Law of Nature we mean that it includes nothing else but these simple and common Principles which are to Guide the Conduct of all Men. I confess indeed the Decalogue is the Natural Law renewed and fresh drawn to the Eyes of the Israelites but withal it is certain that 't is the Natural Law accommodated to the State of the Israelites at that time The following Observations will set this Point beyond all doubt The Israelites had been delivered from the Egyptian

Pursuit but this Joy expires with the Acquisition The greatest of temporal Goods after we have possess'd 'em but for two Days don't very much affect and please us This Happiness seems to consist in the Satisfaction of Desire which makes us not Happy either in Life or Death but only at the instant of Extinction or Annihilation The most excellent Wisdom of Nature thought fit to let us know that worldly Goods are not wholly to be neglected seeing it has affix'd Delight and Joy to the Acquisition of 'em But withal it would teach us that our Souls ought not to acquiesce in this Enjoyment since we no sooner commence the Perception of this Pleasure but it presently vanishes and cheats our Desire The Fifth Defect of Humane Felicity consists in this That our Happiness has always a mixture and allay of Misery Every Good brings some Evil at its Heels Impia suo Dulci melle venena latent Ovid. L. 7. Met. And I know not how it happens so consequent Calamities bear a proportion to precedent Blessings Vt rebus loetis par fit Mensura malorum Idem L. 1. Eleg. The last is that this Happiness does not fill the Capacity of our Soul nor answer the ardent Eagerness of the pursuit so that finding an extream Disproportion betwixt the Good we have obtain'd and the Ardour wherewith we pursu'd it we find our selves tantaliz'd and starv'd as it were in the midst of Plenty Tho' Self-love delights not in thinking of all those Things which may shew it the Vanity of its Applications yet certainly it has a Glimpse of all these Defects in the Happiness it reaches at 'T is conscious that sensual Pleasure is the Happiness rather of Brutes than of Men It owns that a solid and substantial Happiness must necessarily be durable It denies not that a certain Felicity is preferable to that whose Foundations are uncertain It perceives that in order to make a Man happy this transitory Pleasure which lasts no longer than the instant of Acquisition ought to be fix'd and stay'd in its Career It grants that true Felicity should be commensurate to the Appetite of our Soul Wherefore right Reason commands us to search for other Sources of Happiness But the present Delight which interests it and seduces the Understanding by tying it rather to the inquest of Pleasure than Truth takes it off from executing that Design it s own Illusions still serve it after the old Rate If they fail of Objects they take the Place of Qualities and set up themselves for Powers or Habits When Man can't obtain such a temporal Happiness as satisfies his Reason he makes his Reason knock under and condescend to satisfy his Pleasure The prejudic'd Mind gives an extravagant and undue Character to these false Goods and here 't is most of all admirable to see what a prodigious Ascendant the Heart has over the Mind For to disguise abstract and speculative Truths is no great Matter but to disguise sensible and experimental Truths is a Thing that gives us a special Evidence of the Force of our Corruption To see this we proceed in the next place by unfolding the most hidden Mysteries of Self-love CHAP. X. Where we consider the Cheats which Self-love puts upon it self to correct the Defects which it finds in the Happiness it aims at SElf-love perceiving that worldly Happiness is too gross and impure to satisfy our Mind and that indeed 't is not fit an Happiness enjoy'd by none but the Body should satisfy the Thirst of the Soul seeks how it may spiritualize and refine Corporeal Pleasures in order to cheat and impose upon us by making us think that they are equally satisfactory to the Soul and Body Hence Self-love has been pleas'd to tye unto this gross and carnal Felicity the Delicacy of Sentiments the esteem of the Mind and sometimes even the Duties of Religion by conceiving it as Spiritual Glorious and Sacred For as to the first of these who would not be amaz'd to see the prodigious number of Thoughts Opinions Fictions Writings Histories which sensual Pleasure has caus'd to be invented Muster up together all the Tracts that have ever been written about Morality which is the Science of Living well and compare 'em with those that have been made about the Pleasures of Intemperance and you 'll find a great Disproportion between their Number Considering these Actions in their natural Hue there appears in 'em a sordid Baseness which dis-heartens our Pride namely the vile and abject Conformity they have to other Animals Now what Course can be taken to elevate and render 'em worthy and becoming the Grandeur of Men Why the ready way is to spiritualize and refine 'em to present 'em for an Object of the Delicateness of the Mind make 'em a Subject of fine and delightful Sensations to make some sport of 'em to the Imagination and turn 'em agreeably to the Humour by the flourishes of Eloquence and Poetry And lastly to imploy all the Faculties and Lights of the Rational Principle to make the Delights of a Voluptuous Body go down glib and pleasantly into an haughty Soul I express my self according to the Vulgar Prejudice for truly speaking the Body has not in it self any Perception or Sensation Hence Self-love has also ty'd an Esteem and Respect to the most shameful Debasements of Humane Nature Pride and Pleasure are two Passions which tho' they spring from the same Original of Self-lov● yet for all that there is some Difference and Opposition betwixt ' em Pleasure humbles whereas Pride exalts us The former engraves us with the Image of Brutes the latter with the Picture of the Devil Also these two Passions have many a Combat and Duel in our Heart but the Heart can by no means approve of this Conflict being a Friend and Well-wisher to 'em both and all most equally sensible of the charms of Glory and Pleasure It must bestir its Stumps to make a Reconcilation and to bring this about it takes one of these Methods either it transports Pleasure if I may so speak to the Confines of Pride or Pride to the Region of Pleasure If it renounce sensual Pleasure 't will search for a greater in the acquest of Esteem and so Pleasure is wholly indemnify'd Or if we take a Resolution to satisfy its Thirst of sensual Pleasure 't will apply to it the Credit of Esteem and by this means Pride is solac'd at its loss Were there but one only Man of this Disposition of Mind he would not easily succeed in his Design but Men unhappily meeting together they understand one another and having the same Inclination they willingly agree to consecrate it This is a Ragoo to Pleasure which renders it much more exquisite than the Glory which Men's exorbitant Fancies have ty'd to it But 't is yet better season'd when we regard this Pleasure as an Ordinance of Religion A debauch'd Woman that would make People believe in the Heathen World that she had a