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
B11637	Adam in his innocencie. By William Bloys, esquire	Bloys, William, 17th cent.	1638 (1638)	STC 3139; ESTC S116391	73,020	296

be given unto those that be of heavie hearts that they may forget their misery But as commonly abused it is the poyson of Dragons and the cruel venome of Aspes At the last it bites like a Serpent Pro. 23.32 and stings like an Adder The bloud of the grape doth occasion such as exceed therein Res epulis quondam nunc bello caedibus apta Ovid. to powre out their owne bloud and to shed the bloud of other men And as this plant is not able to subsist without some supportation so the bodies of such as doe transgresse thereby are made weake and unable to uphold themselves Also their understanding is darkned by clouds and vapours ascending from the dead sea of a defiled body which doe hinder the influence of the divine light upon their soules In former times they that were drunken were drunken in the night 1 Thes 5.7 but now sinne is growne impudent and that evill which heretofore was secretly committed is now acted before all Israel and before the Sunne It would be superfluous to attempt any further discovery of this bestiall pollution I may be taxed of errour in calling it bestiall Omne brutum à vino naturaliter abhorret Aelian because every beast doth abhorre wine when as the offendors themselves have neither will nor power to conceale their sinne from the view of all men I will not subscribe to the practice of Lycurgus who to reduce his subjects to sobriety caused all the Vines to be rooted up Edixit ne quis in Italiâ novellaret Sue●on Nervii nihil patiuntur vini inferri Sic Suevi Caesar de bel Gal. l. 2. l. 4. Nor to Domitians Edict that none might plant Vineyards Nor yet to that custome of divers Nations who interdicted the importation of wine but as the smell of the Vine in the time of its flourishing doth drive away Serpents and venemous Creatures so it would be a great happinesse if these impure wretches were prohibited from partaking of this good fruit that maketh glad the heart of man and then as by Gods gracious providence our Vines in this Land are not Now hurtfull unto the people by producing wine so likewise the people may not be hurtfull unto the Land by their provocation of Gods anger to punish them for their uncleannesse but we all may be free from intemperance herein and if any that only such Nations Rev. 18.3 as have drunke of the wine of the wrath of the cup of fornication may exceed in the abuse of the wine that growes among them And yet I would to God that they also were the Lords people and altogether like unto us or such as we then should be in being delivered from the bonds of spirituall and corporall drunkennesse While I reprove this excesse in others I my selfe may seem to exceed and to wander from my present purpose but the Vine whereof wee now treat is a luxuriant plant Serpentem multipliei lapsu erratico Cicero whose branches runne far A large digression may be tolerable in me when I reprehend a great transgression that is into lerable in very many Having related what harme and losse it brings to others we will now enter upon our vintage and see what gaine and benefit may redound unto our selves The Church in divers places of Scripture is resembled unto a Vine that was planted by God himselfe Ferro amputans coercet ars agricolarum ne sylvescat farmentis Cicero Nisi putetur sylvescit atque ut ludamus labruscescit Scal in Theop. who doth fence it and bestow cost upon it looks that it should bring forth grapes There is no plant that requires such frequent pruning as the Vine which will become wild and unfruitfull if the loose and spreading branches be not cut off every yeere By which we are againe put in remembrance how needfull correction is for us lest this pleasant plant this noble vine bee turned into the degenerate plant of a strange Vine Jer. 2.21 lest we waxe wanton against the Lord and forget him that nourished us and brought us up Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous Heb. 12.11 but grievous neverthelesse afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse unto them that are exercised thereby The goodly cluster may seeme to be spoiled being cast into the wine-presse to bee crushed and strained when as by that meanes comes forth the new wine which is so usefull and comfortable but if it had remained as before it would have beene of short duration and small benefit So then both from the tree and the fruit we may conclude that afflictions are good for us and are a testimony that we are sons Heb. 12.6 7. and such sons as are beloved of our father though some twigs be taken off other more profitable will shoot forth in their place God who is able to graffe those branches in againe that before were broken off is likewise able to make other branches spring up in lieu of them that were taken away It is better for the Vine to be pruned and still to grow in a fat and fertile soile than not being drest and tended Ezek. 19.12 13. at last to be pluckt up in furie and planted in the wildernesse in a dry and thirsty ground It is better that the branch should be purged by the husbandman that it may bring forth more fruit John 15.2 than to suffer the Vine being not regarded to be rooted up by the Bore of the forest and troden downe by the wild beast of the field It is better to be chastened of the Lord than condemned with the world In time of persecution or the greatest extremity there is an argument of comfort from the Vine for as that in winter seemes to be more seere and drie than any other tree as if it were fit for nothing but the fire yet in the spring it recovers the former beauty growing more and putting out the branches further than any other tree that is fruitfull Even so when we are pressed out of measure above strength in so much that we despaire of life yet even then God who raiseth the dead is able to deliver us from so great a death He that can make the withered branches to shoot out and the drie bones to live can also raise us even when we are lowest unto an estate of consolation and thanksgiving The Church is like a Vine and every Congregation may be compared unto a cluster in which many grapes doe grow together So the people ought to be firmly knit together in love and unity to draw their nourishment from the same root Fulgentes sole racemos Silius and to be ripened by the same influence of the Sun and to be refreshed by the same dew of the divine grace Although the Spies which were sent by Moses and brought the cluster of grapes out of the land of promise did not partake of the blessings of that

partakers of the divine nature This is intended by the Apostle when he saith James 1. Receive with meekness the engraffed word When the heart is made lowly it will be more ready to receive the Word the Word will be more ready to incorporate into it Wee must not only lay aside our greatest sins our boasting that we could do mischiefe our delight in folly and wickednesse but also all confidence in our owne seeming vertues as of temperance liberality moderation and the like lest we be puffed up thereby See this in Saint Paul who saith Phil. 3.3 wee are the circumcision who have no confidence in the flesh and though he were blamelesse touching the righteousnesse that was in the law yet those things that were gain to him he counted losse for Christ Thus David saith His soule was even as a weaned childe and thus we should bee weaned and estranged from taking any contentment in our owne strength and ability and should put on as the Elect of God holy and beloved humbleness of mind meeknesse and lowlinesse In the next place there is an incision or wound made into the stocke by which it may be made capable and fitting to receive the cyons In like manner we must rend our hearts and open our selves that Christ may enter into our soules Our hearts must be broken and opened like the heart of Lydia that we may receive the Word of life Was Christ wounded for our transgressions and shall not wee be pricked to the heart with sorrow for our former provocations After this we put the cyons into that breach and division that is made in the stocke so after sorrow and humiliation God puts joy into our hearts and his law into our inward parts implanting his graces in our soules and rejoycing over us to doe us good Surculi vis ea est ut in tantillo corpusculo tamen praeponderet arboris viribus totius Non enim arboris prodit sed surculi fructus Scal. in Theoph. Bacon Cent. Although the Cyon be small in the beginning yet it groweth to be a great tree over-ruling the stocke and bringing forth fruit of its owne kind so although the beginning of grace be weak and little like a graine of mustard-seed yet there is a continuall increasing and growing unto more perfection when we yeeld our selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and our members as instruments of righteousnesse not living any longer in sinne but living by the faith of the Sonne of God who loved us and gave himselfe for us that hee might reconcile us who were sometimes alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked workes and delivering us from the power of darknesse might translate us into the Kingdome of his deare Sonne As after graffing the stocke being nigher unto the root than the cyons and still abiding in its proper place where it formerly did prosper is ready to send forth many young twigs that will arrest and anticipate that strength and vertue which should ascend for the nourishment of the cyons and are therefore diligently taken away to prevent that mischiefe So there is a combat betweene the flesh and the spirit the one lusting against the other there is the body of death and the old leaven of corruption remaining within us Our sins and infirmities are continually interposing and hindring us from apprehending the favour and love of God with that strength and fulnesse which wee doe desire and therefore wee must cut off these sprigs with pruning-hookes not suffering sinne to reigne in our mortall bodies and have dominion over us but mortifying the deeds of the body through the Spirit and casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ The Kingdome of God is compared to leaven hid in three measures of meale Luke 13.21 untill the whole were leavened A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump the grace begun should grow strong and powerfull within us the leaven of holiness should work out the leaven of malice If the tree doth not flourish we will impute the cause unto the barrennes of the ground or the want of a good root Crassitie suâ cortex obstat quo minus à terrae humore augeatur acinus non enim transmittitur Scal. in Theop. or the thicknesse of the bark that binds the stocke but not unto the graft it self which did grow very happily before it was converted to this use From whence is it that there is such imperfection weaknesse such backwardnesse in the good way and that our fruits rellish so much of the stocke so little of the graft Comes it not hence that our corruptions and lusts doe still warre in our members and we doe not labour to perfect holinesse in the feare of God O wretched men in whom the Crosse of Christ hath not yet worne out the bitter taste of that first tree The Cyon is taken from the tree of life Every good gift commeth downe from the Father of lights who giveth liberally and upbraideth not Oh that we were enlarged in apprehending and applying what is so freely offered If our hearts were opened wide in holy desires the Lord would fill them with spirituall blessings but wee are straitned in our owne bowels and being in this great strait we are as unable to free our selves as the Prophet was to deliver himselfe out of the belly of the Whale We cannot relieve our selves and vaine is the helpe of man who is subject to the same misery We may not trust to the arme of flesh or ascribe the praise to humane power as Adrian did who wrote over his Hospitall at Lovan Adr. 6. Trajectum me plantavit Lovanium me rigavit Caesar incrementum dedit Ergo Deus nihil fecit Utrecht planted Lovan watered Caesar gave the increase Whereunto it was fitly subscribed by another Therefore God had nothing to doe in this man We know that neither hee that planteth is any thing neither he that watereth but God who giveth the increase So Noah began to be an husbandman and planted a vineyard Gen. 9.20 He is the Husbandman saith our Saviour and we are his husbandry saith the Apostle both which places are to be understood of a Plantation as appeares by the context where it is said John 15.1 That Christ is the Vine and we the Branches whereof hee purgeth some and taketh away others Also there is frequent mention of planting watering 1 Cor. 39. which is some part of countrie labour And then the Apostle concludes We are Gods husbandry wee are Gods building and except the Lord build the house they labour in vaine that build it Except the Lord gives a blessing our paines and industry will be fruitlesse In demanding who built such an house or planted such an orchard we intend not the inferiour workmen but the chief owners at whose expence they