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	good_a	life_n	10,536	5	4.7272	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A02180	A most sweete and assured comfort for all those that are afflicted in consciscience [sic], or troubled in minde. Written by that godly & zealous preacher, M. Richard Greenham. With two comfortable letters to his especiall friends that way greeued.	Greenham, Richard.	1595 (1595)	STC 12321; ESTC S117895	37,612	192

armed souldiers If our friends were the Princes and all the Gouernours of the earth If our possessions wer as long as betweene the East and the west If our meate wer as Manna from heauen If our apparrell were as costly as the Ephod of Aaron If euery day were as glorious as the day of Christs resurrection yet if our mindes bee appalled with the iudgement of God these thinges would little comfort vs. Let experience speake If a troubled minde impayreth not health dryeth not vp the blood consumeth not the marrowe pineth not away the flesh consumeth not the bones if it maketh not al pleasures painfull and shortneth not the life surely no wisedome can councell it no councell can aduise it no aduise can asswage it no asswagement can cure it no eloquence can perswade it no power can ouercome it no Scepter affray it nor inchaunter can inchant it And yet on the contrary if a man languish in sickenes so his hart be whole and is perswaded of the health of his soule his sickenes doth not grieue him If a man bee reproched so he be precious in the sight of God and his Angels what losse hath hee If a man be bannished and yet doubteth not that heauen is his Country and that hee is a Citizen among the Saints it doth not appall him If a man be in trouble of minde and findeth peace of conscience hee will quietly digest his trouble But if the minde bee troubled who dareth meete with the wrath of the Lord of Hoasts who can put to silence the voyce of desperation who will step out and make agreement with the hills to spare vs who dare make a couenant with the diuell that hee would not lay claime vnto vs If then a good conscience helpeth all euills and all other benefites in this life cannot helpe a troubled conscience wee see it true in proofe which here is in prouerbe The Spirit of a man vvill susteine his infirmitie But a vvounded Spirit Who can beare it Againe in all other afflictions we may haue some comfort against sinne this is euer accompanied with sinne A man may be sick reproched imprisoned and banished yet in all these haue a cleare conscience his owne hart telling him that there is no speciall cause of these crosses in him but that hee may suffer them for the triall of his faith or for righteousnes sake and well dooing But when the Spirite is wounded there is a guiltines of sinne and where a mans spirite is troubled hee suspecteth all his wayes hee feareth all his sin he knowes not what sin to begin with it breeds such hurly burly in him that when it is day hee wisheth for night when it is night he would haue it day his meate doth not nourish him his sleep often forsaketh him his dreames are feareful vnto him If he speaketh he is little eased if he keepeth silence hee boyleth in disquietnes of hart the light doth not comfort him the darkenesse doth grieue him To prosecute our comparisons where all other euills are more intolerable because they bee temporall and pursue vs but to death this beeing not cured endeth not in death but becommeth eternall For euen the heathen men thought that death was the end of all misery the perswasion whereof made them beeing in some misery to make an end of themselues and hasten their owne death as Sathan doth make many nowe a daies who are ignorant of hell which is a place of farre greater paines than any they can suffer in this worlde whatsoeuer Howe be it a tormented conscience if before it was begun is now continued or if it was not before now beginneth and neuer endeth world without ende For though true it is that sickenes pouerty imprisonment or bannishment haue ended their terme in death yet a wounded heart which was temporall in this life is nowe eternall after this life that which before death was in hope recouerable is after death made both vncurable vnrecouerable It is good therefore to consider if euen in this life the torment of conscience be so fearefull how much more grieuous is it to susteine it in hell where that is infinite which here is finite where that is vnmeasurable which here is measurable where is the sea of sorrowe whereof this is but a droppe where is the flame of that fire whereof this is lesse then a sparke But to shut vp this argument Some there haue beene who thorowe out all their life time haue been free from all other troubles so as either they felt them not all or else in very small measure and by that meanes neuer knewe what outward trouble meant As for example some men there haue been who for sicknesse neuer knew the head-ache for pouertie neuer knewe what want meant who for discredite were neuer euill spoken of who euer put frō them the euill daye of the Lorde who haue made a league with death as it were a couenant with hell who thought they could crucifie anie crosse rather than come vnder anie Crosse yet they could neuer escape a wounded conscience either in this life or in the life to come True it is that Gods Children doo often escape it but the wicked and such as are borne vnto it as to their sure inheritance the more they flie from it the more it pursueth them If we haue transgressed the Ciuill Lawes the Iudge by bribes may be corrupted if a man haue committed some capitall offence by flying the Countrey hee maye escape the Magistrates hands but our Consciences telling vs that wee haue sinned against God what bribe shall wee offer or whether shall wee flie whether shall we goe from his spirite whether shall wee flie from hys presence If we ascend into heauen is not hee there If we flie to the vtmost parts of the sea is hee not there also There needeth no Paritor to summon vs there needes no Baylie arraunt to fetche vs there needes no accuser to come in agaynst vs sinne will arrest vs and lieth at the Doore our owne Conscience will impanell a Quest against vs our owne heartes will giue in Euidence agaynst vs and our owne iniquitie will pleade vs to be guiltie to our owne faces Now let vs shew how we may preuent it and by what means Gods children falling into some degrees of it for if it rage in extremitie it is an euil vnrecouerable may safely and quietly bee deliuered from it And here a iust complaint is to be taken vp and it is a wonder to be marked if we may wonder at GODS workes that we see so manie carefull and watchfull to auoyd other troubles and so few or none take anie paines to escape the troble of mind which is so greeuous We see men louing health and loathing sicknes in diet temperat in sleep moderate in Phisick expert skilfull to purge and to auoyde such corrupt humours which in time maye breed thogh presently they doo not bring forth sicknes yet to auoyde the

and serch our owne hearts at the bottome whether we respect our sins past or present whether we we looke to our priuy pride hidden wants or secret corruptions And to retourne from whence wee were digressed to the examination of our heartes In sinnes to come let vs obserue that in Gods children there is such a iealousie that they tremble at the verie first motions and quake at the least occasion to sinne although because vice will sit in residence very nere vnto vertue there may be in thē somtime too much scrupulousnes this feare causeth the dearest of the Saintes of God to reason on this sort O Lord I see how many excellent men in gifts and constant in profession for a long time whose end hath not answered their Beginnings whose death was not like to their liues This is true whether we looke into the word or into the world and it is a thing that maye much humble vs. For though we maye remember what wee haue been and knowe what wee are yet who can tell what may come vnto him heereafter Oh that the serious meditation heereof would dwell long vpon our consciences that with a holie iealozie wee might preuent that sin that is to come But alas there bee some wayne people whych thinke it no masterie to offer themselues to masking minstrelsie and dauncing nor to runne into quarrells braules and contentions as though they had theyr eares theyr eyes theyr hands and theyr feete in their owne power and at commaundement to vse gouerne as themselues list Howbeit GODS Children better fenced with hys grace than those bolde buzzardes are afrayde of these occasions as knowing full well that theyr eyes maye soone bee prouoked to lust their eares maye quicklye listen vnto vnchast delightes their handes maye sodainely strike a deadly blowe and their feete may easely be snared in the spreaded nettes of carnall pleasures Beware O man bee circumspect O Woman that thou prostitute not thy selfe to too much libertie for althogh in comming to such lasciuious cōtentious places thou diddest purpose none euill yet for thy ventring with out warrant thou mayst bee ouer thy shooes in sinne and plunged in some wicked attempts ouer head and cares ere thou beest aware And yet because vice is so confine vnto vertue beware also of superstition for still the enemie laboureth to make thee too hardie in sinne or else he will cause thee to be too fearfull and superstitious eyther hee will puffe thee vp with presumption or assault thee with desperation To these tentations our nature is very appliable first to presumption as maye appeare by our common speech tush the Preacher is but a man as I am I am sure he hath infirmities as others haue wee are no Angels our nature is corrupt we are but men I am sure you would not haue vs Gods Thus the diuell commeth to tempt but he apparelleth himselfe in another sute when hee commeth to accuse and then of a flye he maketh an elephant of the very smallest pricke of a pin a gloabe of the whole earth of a moal-hill a mountain presseth silly soules with fear terror that they know not how to winde themselues If he cannot bring thē to make conscience where they shuld make conscience hee will labour to bring them to make conscience where they need make no conscience He careth not whether thou be remisse or superstitious so thou be one of them If he cannot get you to follow the epicurisme of the world as Libertines in diet and apparell hee wil make you so precise as to thinke it a hainous sinne to eare one bit of meate or to weare one ragge of cloath more thā for necessity How needfull therefore it is to saile with an euen course we may coniecture by other thinges which will bewraye the corruption of our nature In the time of a plague we shall see some will be so bold that without anie lawfull calling or godly warraunt they will rush into places infected and then falling sicke their conscience pricks them for their tempting of God by an vnaduised boldnes in the instaunt moment of theyr death Others plunged as deeply in a quite contrarie extremitye are too fearefull when they doo but heare of sickenesse and for very feare haue been brought to deaths dore onely by imagining themselues to haue been infected when they haue beene most free who oftentimes haue euen died and that without anie naturall cause that euer could be knowen but onely through immoderate fear the iudgement of God comming vpon them for their infidelitie and vnbeliefe Thus it is with vs in Christianitie in that as well the oppressing our selues with too much feare to be ouercome as the carnall securitie in not fearing to bee ouercome maye bring sinne vpon vs. God his childrē must labor for a measure and that must be sought for in the Word which wyll teach them how they shall neither decline on the right hand nor on the left but wil guide them in the narrowe way showing in euery thing what is the vertue what is the vice what is the meane what is the extreame Among manie Examples let vs consider of zeale a most precious vertue in Christianitie so long as it is free from the extremities If we be cold in zeale it is a sinne on the left hand if we bee zealous without knowledge it is preposterous and becommeth a sinne on the right hand But can wee not come to some perfection No if you vnderstand it for an absolute vnspottednes albeit to that perfection which the Scripture taketh for soundnesse truth and sinceritie of hart which is voyd of careles remissenes we may come Neither doth the lord deal with vs after our sins nor reward vs after our iniquities in whole eies the most glorious actiōs of men are but as waters flowing purely from the Conduit but defiled by passing through a filthy chanell Wherefore although wee haue our imperfections let vs not seeke to be more righteous than we can be saying for euerie errour of this life Oh I am none of Gods hys sonnes I am none of hys daughters for I cannot find that perfection in me which is to be required But let vs comfort our selues in the truth of our hearts and singlenes of our desires to serue God because he is God and so wee shall bee accepted of God I speake this to this end that poore soules might haue cōfort know that if they abhor sinne as sinne if they examine themselues for it if they feare to fall into it the Lord will not pursue them with the rigor of his lawe but wil giue them the sweetnesse of his promises they are no more vnder the curse but vnder grace But farther to inforce our Exhortation to auoyde too scrupulous feare which hindereth the true examination of our heartes let vs thinke that it happeneth in the spirituall conflict as in ciuill war Wee read that manie Citties being in great securitie haue sodainly both