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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	die_v	good_a	life_n	16,696	5	4.8534	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03264	A short dialogue concerning the plagues infection Published to preserue bloud, through the blessing of God.	Balmford, James, b. 1556.	1603 (1603)	STC 1338; ESTC S100768	34,749	98

those few I can presently gather out of the word God preserueth some to manifest his power and prouidence As may appeare by the 91. Psalme before discussed and by Esa 1. 9 2 God will take none hence before they haue done him all that seruice which in his counsell was appointed as appeareth by these places Luk. 13. 31 32 33 and Act. 13. 36. 3 God reserueth some for an heauier iudgement as may appeare by these places 1. King 19. 17. 2. King 8. 10 15. Amos 5. 16 17. And 4 towards some he perfourmeth his promise in preseruing them in their wayes that is wayes whereinto God calleth thē according to the 91. Psalme vers 11. For which cause Priests though taking often view of Leprosie were preserued as I shewed before and kéepers buriers and such as haue necessarie cause of comming to the infected of the Plague are for the most part now preserued So that Peter may boldly go on the water when Christ biddeth him come As you may reade Mat. 14. 28 29. Profess I thank you heartily for yeelding me this satisfaction For amongst all your good notes I take hold of the second with some comfort and thereon ground this conclusion If I shall not die before I haue done God all the seruice I am appointed why shold I be vnwilling to die when my time is come and not rather be prepared to say yea sing with good old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace But I misse one principall cause of preseruation from the Plague to wit A strong faith according to the 91. Psalme Preach I thought verily you wold not let go your hold on that part of the mightie argument But I assure you there is no such force in it as it séemeth to haue Nay rather it ouerthroweth the former part of that argument For in that Psalme the promise of preseruation is not made only to our taking hold of Gods promise but also to our walking in our wayes Wherefore as that faith which standeth vpon the precept which is implyed to walke in our wayes and forgetteth as it were the promise of helpe sauoureth of distrust in God So that faith which taketh hold of the promise neglecting the precept sauoureth of presumption and therefore hauing no promise with cōfortable assurance cannot hope for preseruation Againe though faith do equally respect both the promise the precept yet sith all temporall blessings are promised not absolutely but conditionally so farre as the performance of them shall be to the glorie of God and good of the beléeuer as I wil proue if néed require it cannot be otherwise assured of preseruation then with respect to those conditions If without such respect it be absolutely assured thē it is not faith but presumption Except you will haue it to be a miraculous faith which taketh hold of the will of God instantly and by inspiration reueiled But that faith liueth and dieth with miracles because I say againe it hath no promise For howsoeuer saluation be absolutely promised to beléeuers because it is reuealed that the performance of that promise is for Gods most glory and the beléeuers best good and is therefore absolutely to be beléeued yet because it is not reuealed at any time that then the performance of a temporall promise is for Gods most glory and the beléeuers best good therefore a temporall promise is in the nature thereof conditional and accordingly to be beléued Lastly do you not perceiue that the stronger faith is required the greater danger is supposed But if the plague be not contagious what daunger is there if no daunger what néed of faith Profess There is no need you should proue your conditions for they stand with all reason sith God hath made all things for his owne sake and promiseth deliuerance for his glory sake and his promises pretend the good of his people But yet it will not out of my mind but that godly men who die in this plague do therefore die because they faile in faith I meane not touching their saluation but touching the particular promise of preseruation from the plague Therefore I pray you for my better instruction shew me how by the death of godly men dying of the plague and beleeuing the promises both of eternall saluation and temporall preseruation God may haue glory and the deceased benefit Preach I graunt that a right godly man may faile as in obedience to the precept of kéeping his wayes by presumption so in faith to the promise of preseruation by feare especially when he heareth nothing but crying of wiues and children mourning of husbands and parents sorrowing of friends and kinsfolke and withall séeth the plague wéekely to increase from tens to hundreds from hundreds to thousands and to draw nearer and nearer to himselfe and that God in visiting him may iustly take hold of this feare for Peter walked on the water for a while but when he saw a mightie wind he was afraid and began to sinke But this position A godly man dying of the plague failed in faith touching promised preseruation I hold to be as vnsound as this All godly men dying before their dayes be long failed in honouring their father and mother But I will shew you in a word how the death of godly men dying of the plague and in the absolute faith of eternall saluation and conditionall faith of temporall preseruation may be to Gods glorie and the beléeuers good for by the death of the faithfull God glorifieth his iustice and wisedome His iustice amongst the wicked in giuing them cause to say If God spare not the gréene trée what will become fo the drie His wisedom amongst the godly least they should say For our righteousnesse we are deliuered As for the good of the beléeuer I maruell that you should forget that which is so often taught in funerall sermons that as the wicked are reserued for a further mischiefe so the righteous is taken away from the euill to come besides that he resteth in glorie from mo and greater labors then the wicked are commonly subiect vnto Profess God helpe vs for our owne conceiued errours will hardly out of our minds but we easily forget that which may reforme our iudgement Well acknowledging that you haue fully answered my first argument I proceed to another grounded on the prouidence of God in this sort If God shoote his arrowes at a certaine marke and not at randon if none die before his hower and if those that are appointed to die shal dy and those that are appointed to perish by sword or famine shall so perish and none other as you proued euē now otherwise I had those proofes ready for this purpose then if I go where the plague is a thousand times I shall not die of the plague if God haue not appointed me to dy thereof and if he haue I shall die thereof though I come not neare it by a

this proportion betwéene the vnrulinesse of our sinne and the vnrulinesse of this sicknesse because I find in the Scriptures that the Plague was especially threatened against and inflicted vpon wilfull offendors At your leysure consider these places Leuit. 26. 23 24 25. Num. 14. 37. and 16. 41 45 46. 2. Sam. 24. 1 2 3 4 15. and you will perceiue as much But now let me heare one of your obiections against the grounds of mine opinion Prof. The ground whereon you build your opinion of separating the sound from the infected is the law of Lepers Which vnder your correction seemeth to be no rocke but a sand because that law was meerely ceremoniall Prea Nay Sir my ground is the mortall contagion of the Pestilence which we call the Plague Indeed I receiue confirmation from the law of Lepers For thus I reason If such care is to be had of infection which is not mortall much more of the Plagues infection which is mortall And this argument holdeth good your obiection notwithstanding For the lawes of separating women in time of their flowers and not eating strangled beasts were ceremoniall but yet husbands are now to forbeare the act of matrimonie in that time and all are to take héede how they eate of strangled flesh and both are to be héeded in naturall consideration of bodily hurt which is still to be feared in such copulation and eating So Leprosie is still infectiue as experience sheweth if now why not then notwithstanding the lawe of Lepers was ceremoniall And the rather because in Sacraments and ceremonies there must be a resemblauce betwéene the signe and the thing signified so that as we obiect against Transsubstantiation and say If the substance of bread and wine be taken away by consecration how can there be bodily nourishment if no nourishment how can our spirituall féeding be resembled So I say to you If in the Leprosie there were no infection how could the contagion of sinne be signified Prof. I graunt that in Leprosie there was somewhat to signifie a sinne to be shunned But that was Pollution not Infection For vpon occasion of this question I haue read both the Chapters cōcerning Leprosie and find them still mention Vncleanenesse and neuer Infection Againe if the Leprosie were infectiue how chaunced it that the Priestes who so often viewed the Lepers were neuer infected Preach Do not you consider that though all vncleanenesse be not infectiue yet all infection is vncleane and therefore you might haue vnderstood Infection as well as any other Pollution by the word Vncleanenesse And though you find not the very word Infection yet you may find enough to make it euident that the Leprosie is infectiue For it was not to be pronounced Leprosie except it were found spreading and fretting as a Canker or Gangrene in a mans bodie And why was the Leper to couer his lips and to to cry I am vncleane I am vncleane but to giue warning that none shold come within the infection of his breath As for the Priestes escape that is to be attributed to the prouidence of God who set him on worke As he promised to preserue Ieremy and Paule for that cause Prof. If my memorie faile me not I haue heard you say that the ceassing of Man presently after the children of Israel had eaten of the corne of the land of promise teacheth vs not to depend vpon extraordinarie meanes viz. Miracles and such like when we may enioy ordinarie So I thinke it may be said we are not to suppose the extraordinarie prouidence of God in preseruing Priests viewing the Lepers where we may find an ordinarie to wit their not touching of Lepers whereby they might be defiled Preach How find you that to be the cause Sith you find not in both your Chapters Touching spoken of Whereas in the next Chapter you find Pollution communicated by touching and not otherwise in the vncleannesse of a man by fluxe of séed and of a woman by issue of flowers Nay in this case of of Leprosie a man is become vncleane by going into an house shut vp for Leprosie in the wals which he néed not to touch as hath bene said So that if you consider your two Chapters well it may rather appeare to you that as the infection of the Plague so of the Leprosie was communicated by the ayre and not onely by touching But suppose that Pollution not Infection were the cause that cleane men should shunne vncleane Lepers lest they should be defiled not infected yet this makes for my purpose For if Pollution be to be shunned much more Infection and that deadly Profess I see I must either depart not fully satisfied or come to a point which I haue hitherto auoyded because I wold not offend you whom I haue heard so carnest against it so as you haue pronounced it to be a bloudie errour to wit It is stiffely maintained by no small number of people that the Plague is not contagious Preach I graunt that mo than a good many do more stiffely than wisely maintaine that bloudie error so I will call it againe and againe For most of that many do wilfully maintaine that opinion because they cannot abide to be Gods prisoners It is a death to be out of companie and they had rather indanger a thousand liues than want any part of their pleasure or profite As may appeare by the discoured course of many who hold the Plague to be infectiue while they and theirs be wel but when they or theirs be infected thē forsooth the Plague is not infectiue So their reason followeth and is framed to their will and not their will followeth reason to be ruled thereby But me thinkes euery reasonable man should say to his owne soule O let me be sure mine opinion touching the ininfection of the Plague whether negatiue or affirmatiue be vndoubtedly true lest by maintaining an error in a case and time of so great mortalitie and vnspeakeable miseries I do infinite hurt For if it be true that the Plague is contagious then of necessitie he that maintaineth the contrarie is guiltie of the bloud of so many as are incouraged by his opinion to runne into daunger On the other side if the Plague be not contagious then he that maintaineth the contrarie is guiltie of all the wants and miseries of so many as want conuenient reliefe not ministred for feare of contagion apprehended by the maintenance of his opinion But neighbour I wonder that any should deny the Plague to be contagious against so generall and wofull experience Do not the botches blains and spots called Gods tokens accompanied with rauing and death argue a straunger infection then that of the Leprosie to be iudged by botches and spots Doth not the ordinarie experience of laying liue Pigeons to plague sores and taking them presently dead away and that one after another demonstrate mortall infection In that the Plague rageth and raigneth especially