Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	great_a	life_n	love_n	7,775	5	5.2746	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A72989	The rose, and lily Delivered at the lecture, in Ashby de-la-zouch in the county of Leicester. By William Parks, Master of Arts, and curat of Chelaston in the county of Derby.	Parks, William, curat of Chelaston.	1640 (1640)	STC 19303.3; ESTC S124820	66,672	201

he thought them not worth a carrying so Christ carryed all his goods about him so that when he died he needed no executors to prove his will for x John 19 23. the Souldiers parted his goods among them and hee had nothing for them to part but onely his garments Mat. 27.35 I have heared a story of Richard Nevile sometime Earle of Warwick how true it is I know not that when the people would have made him King hee refused that dignity saying that he had rather make Kings then be one but this I know he that y Psal 85.7 putteth downe one and setteth up another when the people would have made him King refused it Erat Rex qui timebat fieri Rex nec talis Rex qui ab hominibus fieret sed talis qui hominibus regnum daret saith Saint Augustine z In John ●ract 23. He was a King that feared to bee made a King not such a King that should be made by men but such a King as should give a Kingdome to men A King hee was indeed and acknowledged to bee so a Mat. 2.2 by the wise men at his birth Nathanel b John 1.44 and the whole multitude acknowledged him c Luke 19.38 to bee King in his Life at his death Pilate wrote him King of the Iewes d John 19 19.22 and would not alter that title and yet hee would not be made a King by the people lest e Calvin in Iohn 19. his spirituall Kingdome should have been at an end he refused to be made a King on earth for hee was already King of Heaven and earth Thirdly at his death he was so poore that he had neither Sepulchre nor winding sheet of h●s owne but f John 19.38.39 Ioseph and Nicodemus were faine to supply them Even the richest men and most puissant Monarchs have nothing at their deathes that they may properly call their owne but onely their Sepulchres We may say of them all as S. Austin g Ad fra●r in Er●●o Ser. 48. speakes of Caesars Tombe Though hee were the feare of men and terror of Princes yet all his great riches his titles of Honour and Dignity his Crowne and Scepter Speare and Sword Omnia sibi pariter defecerunt quando defecit spiritus ejus reliquerunt eum captivatum in sepulchro trium brachiorum plenum foetore putredine All those things left him as they doe all men else when he was bereft of his soule and left him nothing but a Sepulchre of six cubits to conteyne him but Christ as he was without all earthly pompe in his life so at his death he had not so much as a Sepulchre or winding sheer of his owne untill they were given him In all which respects we may say of him with S. Augustine h De Cat●ch●z r●dibus Omnia bona terrena contempsit homo Christus ut nobis ea contemnenda monstraret The man Christ Iesus did contemne all earthly things to teach us also to doe the like It was a curse layd upon the Serpent in Paradise i Gen. 3.14 upon thy belly shalt thou goe and dust shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life and therefore the seed of the woman k Ver. 15. being to break the head of the Serpent went not on his belly nor had his affections placed on the earth but was lifted sursum versus coelum upward toward Heaven therein resembling the Flower of the Lily of the Valleys Secondly folia liliorum non solum dilatantur ad latera sed etiam inferius declinant ad ima the Leaves of the Lily do not onely extend outward but bend downward so Christ extended his benefits farr off and even to his enemies The Apostle S. Paul tells the Gentiles l Eph. 2 13. that now in Christ Iesus yee who somtimes were farr off are made nigh by the bloud of Christ Christs benefits to us are like the oyntment m Psal 133.2 on Aarons head that ran downe on his beard and descended to the skirts of his garments they went downe to the lowest members of the Church When he was upon the earth hee shewed his love unto the poore in doing good to the Halt the Lame the Blind as it were so many cripples from severall Hospitalls Now love n Doctor Boys expo of the Creed is more shewed in deeds then in words but more in suffering then it is in doing so that the love of Christ was especially shewed unto us in dying for us As the Father shewed great love in giving his Sonne unto us so the son shewed like equall love in being so ready to suffer for us Greater o John 15 13. love hath no man then this that a man lay downe his life for his friends but Christ suffered for us dum inimici essemus p Rom. 5.8 10. while wee were sinners and enemies and gave himselfe to death for us while wee were q Eph 2.1 dead in trespasses and sins Wee read of some indeed that have been ready to dy for their friends as r Cicer. Offic. Damon for his Pithyas Pylades ſ Id●m de Amici for his Orestes of whom the Poet. t Ovid. Extitit hoc unum quod non convenerat illis Hic negat inque vicem pugnat uterque mori They never fell our about any thing but this which of them should first lay downe his life for the other And wee read of some that have dyed for others as S. Austine reports v De Civitate Dei li. 8. cap. 5 of Castor and Pollux the sons of Tyndarus that Pollux intreated to impart halfe his life on his brother And we read that Codrus did willingly w Iustin dy for his countrey And also it is reported x Iuvenall Subeuntem fata mariti Alcesten that Alcestes did undergo the destinies of her husband and by her death redeemed his life These shewed great loves in laying downe their lives but it was for them that loved them as much or had deserved so much at their hands But Christ layd downe his life for us not onely Sine nostris meritis sed cum nostris demeritis saith S. Bernard y In Cant. Ser. 15 when we deserved no love but when we deserved as much hatred from him as was due unto his enemies and extended the fruits of that love and the benefits of that passion to all that will lay hold upon them It is written of the Cherubins z 1 Kings 6.27 that they stretched out their wings ad parietes usque to the wall on each side full ten cubits so Christ being stretched forth upon the Crosse extended his benefits to the ends of the World hee stood open to receive all commers and spread forth the branches of his love unto all therein resembling the leaves of the Lilies of the Valleyes Thirdly the Lily Lactei floris herba unde nuncupata quasi

Schismatickes who at this day do walke in their steps accounting all reprobates but them of their owne tribe But he calls those sinners that feeling their sins acknowledge themselves to bee sinfull But as the Lily though it grow among Thorns yet it loseth none of the whitenesse of his colour or fragrancy of its smell so Christ though hee conversed among thorny sinners yet hee reteyned still his innocency neither did hee converse with them b Jansen Concor cap. 33. to confirme them in their sinnes but to convert them from them Though hee did goe upon c Prov. 6 28. coales yet was he not burnt Though hee touched pitch d Eccles 13.1 yet was hee not defiled with it though hee had fellowship with the proud yet was not hee like unto them though hee were conversant with thornie sinners yet was hee not infected with their sins that kept on still the white Robes of his innocency therein resembling the nature of the Lily of the Valleys And now I come to the limitation of his second attribute to the first subject of the Valleys I am the Rose of Sharon c. Christ is not e Doctor Dove in Loc. the lofty Cedar but the lowly Lily not of the high Mountaines but of the low valleys that is humility it selfe Suorum Deus altissimus fuorum Christus humillimus as God of all others is a patterne of Majesty so Christ of all others is a spectacle of humility Hee was an example of humility in these respects f August de Civ Dei li. 14. nascendo conversando praedicando miracula faciendo moriendo In his birth in his conversation in his preaching in his working of miracles and in his dying First in his birth Hee chose not his descent from the mighty Monarchs of Assyria Greece and Persia but of the contemptible and despised Iewes and among them hee chose not any rich Parents to bee borne of but a poore Virgin espoused to a poore Carpenter What greater abasement could there bee then that hee which thundred in the Cloudes should cry in the Cradle that hee should put off the glorious Robes of his immortalite and put on the base ragges of our mortality that hee which was cloathed with Majesty and honour should bee cloathed with swadling clowtes that hee that in Heaven was GOD not subject to his Father in earth should bee man subject to his Mother that Mary that was a sheepe should bring forth a Sheepherd that hee which was the Father of Mary should become the soone of Mary this mystery is so great and the humility so wonderfull that as Saint Bernard saith it g In vrgil Nativ is mirabiliter singulare singulariter mirabile wonderfully singular and singularly wonderfull There is so great humility in CHRISTS birth that S. Augustine saith h Ser. 18. Nat Omnis bujus nativitatis schola humilitatis est ●fficina the whole Schoole of Christs nativity is a shop of humility Secondly hee shewed his humility in his conversation because though hee did no sinne i Destruct vi● yet hee tooke upon him the punishments for sinne most humb●y undertaking the infirmities of the body and defects of the soule that are not sinfull as to bee weary hungry sorrowfull c. And though he were Lord of all yet hee becomes servant to his owne Disciples and k John 13.5 washeth their feete telling them l Luke 22.27 that hee is among them as one that serveth Whence some m Barrad Stella conjecture that Christ did use to serve them being at meat Thirdly hee shewed his humility in his preaching because hee sought not his owne glory but the glory of him that sent him And hee tells his Disciples n John 14 10. The words that I speake unto you I speake not of my selfe And when hee chose his Disciples to preach unto the World hee chose not rich and learned men but poore simple silly Fisher-men Had Christ chosen such as Aristotle and Demosthenes to preach the Gospell they would have sayd they were so learned that they might easily convince they were so eloquence that they might easily perswade but hee chose unlearned Fisher-men to confound the learned Phylosophers that the glory might not be given to the meanes Forthly hee shewed his humility in his working of miracles because when hee did great miracles hee commands the parties on whom they were wrought not to divulge them When hee cured one of the leprosy o Mat. 8.4 and restored sight to the blind man p Marke 8 26. hee chargeth them to tell no man Mundavit leprosum Dominus jussit eum nulli hoc fateri hoc fateri docens quam esset alienus ab aura gloriae pompaque jactantiae saith Saint Chrysostome q Apud Barrad In doing those miracles which Christ would not have told he shewed how farre hee was from vayne glory and seeking prayse of men but in those miracles that hee would have to bee divulged hee shewes how free hee was in seeking glory to GOD for hee bidds the man that was freed from his legion of divells to shew r Luke 8.39 how great things not hee but God had done for him And all the time of his life wherein hee wrought his miracles hee went abour doing of them he rode not in any stately manner but went on foot neither do I read that hee did ride at all but once when hee rode upon an Asse s Mat. 21.25 into Hierusalem And when he sate Nunquam in sede nec in pulvinari sed in ipsa superficie terrae modo in montibus modo apud fontes sedet docet saith St. Chrysostome t Hom. 67. in Mat. Christ sate and taught not on any couch or chayre of state sometimes on the mountaines sometimes by the fountaines alwaies on the superficies of the earth Fiftly Christ shewed his humiltty in his dying It was great love and as great Humility for him to be cloathed with the vaile of our nature and to undertake the infirmities of our feeble nature yet it was greater love and humility too for him to be compassed with the shadow of death and to undergoe the penalty due to our sinfull nature What humilitie could bee greater then that the Lord of life should suffer a shamefull and ignominious death that hee that was gloria Angelorum should become opprobrium hominum he that was the glory of Angells should be made the u Psal 22 6. scorn of men and despised of the people Thus Christ knowing that humilitie did suite well with the head when the body was sicke with pride bowed w Psal 18.9 the heavens and came downe there was the humilitie of his Godhead not putting it off but clothing it with the raggs of flesh And from his birth to his buriall from the time of his being borne in another mans s●able untill the time of his being bu●●ed in another mans tombe he alwaies shewed the

was the Church and you shall see Cain persecuted Abel and o Gen. 4 8. Mat. 23.35 slew him Abraham was the father p Rom. 4.16 of the faithfull and yet in his family Ismael persecuted Isaack and mocked him q Gal. 4 30. Gen. 21.9 Israell was Gods peculiar people yet what did they suffer in the time of their foure hundred Yeares captivity in Aegypt under Pharaoh After they came out of Aegypt how were they afflicted by the Canaanites the Moabites the Ammonites the Philistines which were r Numb 33.55 as prickes in their eyes and thornes in their sides What cruell persecution did they suffer under Antiochus Epiphanes in whose time all were commanded ſ 2 Macab 6. to bee put to death that would not depart from the law of their God Descend downe to the time of the Gospell what exquisite torments have been inflicted upon many Myriads of Christians under the ten most bloody and grievous persecutions some being torne in peeces with wild beasts as Ignatius some broyled on the Gridiron as Lawrence some stoned to death as t Eusch Eccle● hist lib. 6. cap. 40. Metras others burned to death by a slow fire as Iulianus u Ibi lib. 8. cap. 39. of Cappadocia and the rest put to that accuratenesse of torments that wee may say of them as the Christians did certifie the Pope w Turk Hist. page 13. in their letters that they did every day suffer that which Christ their King suffered but once to bee dayly buffetted scourged peirced So that what would now be accounted cruelty was then accounted the Emperours clemency x Eus li. 8. cap. 12. When he commanded the right eye of the christians to be plucked out and the empty place seared and the left leg to bee cut off and the place seared and condemned them to the mine-pits And to shew that they did seeke rather jugulare animos quam corpora to slay their soules then their bodies they did put them to such lingring torments as if they meant to kill them often Morsque minus poenae quam mora mortis habet It is a greater payne to be long a dying then death it selfe yet I read that one Peter a Page to the Emperour refusing to sacrifice at Nicomedia was hoysed up y Idem ibi cap. 6. on high and his naked body scourged and his flesh rent in peeces with the lash of the whip and when the bones were bare they powred vineger mixed with salt into the wounds and bruised parts of his body and then hee was layed on a Gridiron with a slow fire under to consume him untill hee dyed Quis talia fando z Virgil. Temperet à lacrymis If it bee a griefe to us seriously to consider those torments what was it in them to endure them Not long after the tenth persecution ended the the heresy of Arrius a Perkins on Heb. 11. raised up by the divell brought as greivous persecutions on the Church as ever the Pagans did dying and colouring the Easterne churches with the bloud of GODS Saints for the space of fourscore yeares together Since that time what have some of the Romanists effected With what rage and malice fire and faggot have they proceeded against all those that professe not their errors What b Conr. Theodor. Dieter excommunications burnings killings hangings they have inflicted upon the true professours of the Gospell the massacre of Paris and the death of many thousands of Christians both in this Kingdome and others do sufficiently testify So that the Church did seeme to dwell like the man in the Gospell c Marke 5.3 among the tombs And Christianus d Luther loc Com. Tit. Calamit seemes to bee crucianus A christian may seeme to bee derived as well from Christs crosse as from Christ Sanguine fundata est Ecclesia sanguine crevit Sanguine succrevit sanguine finis erit The Church was begun with the blood of Abel strengthened by the bloud of the Prophets increased by the bloud of the Martyrs and all e 2 Tim. 3 12. that will live godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution If any should aske the reason why the Church is subject to the prickles of persecution I answer it is both in respect of the godly and in respect of the wicked An iron being put into the fire and heat red hot is afterward layd on the anvill and then every blow struck upon it doth make it the fitter for use but it makes the instruments the Anvill and the Hammer the harder so Gods children being heat red hot as it were in the fire of persecution it makes them the better and the more plyable to gods service but it makes the wicked which are the instruments to bee the harder First then it is for the benefit of Gods children Candidior tribulationum aculeis efficieris f Angelomtin loc The Church is more white and beautifull by the prickles of persecution The Church is compared to the Moone g Sol. Song 6. Ecclesia sicut luna defectus habet ortus frequentes sed defectibus suis crevit his meruit ampliari dum persecutionibus minuitur martyrio coronatur saith S. Ambrose h Hexam li. 9. The Church like the Moone hath ●ifings and settings fulls and waynes but shee increaseth by her defects and deserves to be augmented while shee is lessened by persecution and crowned with Martyrdome We cannot bee crowned except wee fight neither can wee triumph except wee have got the victory when we fight and conquer then may tropheys bee set up In the shop of a Ieweller the Iewells would not bee so beautifull if there were no iron instrumens to furbish them Solomons Temple had never been so glorious if there had been no craggy stones to build it so Gods children would never be so beautifull in themselves nor so glorious in the fight of God if they had no persecution to try them When we sit by the waters of Babylon then wee remember thee i Psal 137.1 O Sion As the Prophet David sayes of himselfe k Psal 119 17. It is good for me that I have been afflicted so may many a member of the Church say it is good for mee that I have been persecuted Man saith one l Clem Alexand is like unto a vine now a vine as hee there speakes and we here know unlesse it be pruned it will streight way grow wilde so man if hee have no persecution no crosse layd upon him hee will bee ready to forget himselfe and to spurne against his maker Persecution then is like the wind which doth cleanse the good grayne though it blow cold like the fire which doth purify the good gold though it burne hot for the godly are bettered by it their knowledge is sounder then it was their faith stronger their humility lower their goodnes in generall is greater towards GOD towards their neighbours and towards themselves