Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	law_n	sin_n	sin_v	8,157	5	9.6294	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A22627	Saint Augustines confessions translated: and with some marginall notes illustrated. Wherein, diuers antiquities are explayned; and the marginall notes of a former Popish translation, answered. By William Watts, rector of St. Albanes, Woodstreete; Confessiones. English	Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo.; Watts, William, 1590?-1649.	1631 (1631)	STC 912; ESTC S100303	327,312	1,035

are from thee taught so by this one most firme demonstration that they are Of these things I was certaine enough yet too too weake to comprehend thee I prated altogether like a skilfull Fellow but had I not sought thy way in Christ our Saviour I had not proved a skilfull man but a lost man For now forsooth I beganne to be desirous to seeme wise full of mine owne punishment yet could not weepe for it but became more and more puffed up with my knowledge 2. For where was that charity that should build mee up from that foundation of humility which is in Christ Iesus or when would these bookes have taught me that Yet upon these I beleeve it was thy pleasure that I should first fall before I tooke thy Scriptures into my consideration that I might print in memory how far those Bookes wrought upon my affections and that when afterwards I should come to bee made tractable by thy Bookes thine own fingers undertaking the cure of me and my wounds dressed I might discerne at last and distinguish how maine a difference there was betwixt Presumption and Confession betwixt those that saw whither they were to goe but knew nothing of the way and that path which leades unto that blessed Countrey not to be lookt upon onely but dwelt in For had I first been brought up in thy holy Scriptures and in the familiar use of them thy selfe had grown sweet unto me and falne upon these Philosophicall volumes afterwards they might eyther have withdrawne me from the sollid ground of piety or if I had stood firme in that wholsome disposition which I had there tasted I might perchance have thought that a man even out of these Platonike bookes might have gotten the same had he studied them onely CHAP. 21. What he found in the holy Scriptures which was not in the Platonists 1. MOst greedily therefore laid I hold upon that venerable stile of thy Spirit and upon the Apostle Paul above all the rest Whereupon those difficulties quite vanished away in which hee sometimes seemed unto mee to contradict himselfe and wherein the Text of his discourse seemed not to agree with the testimonies of the Law and the Prophets And there appeared unto me that one face of that chaste Eloquence and I learned to rejoyce with trembling I set upon it and found whatsoever I there read to be true These things to the praise of thy Grace I there learned that he which sees may not so glory as if he had not received not that onely which hee does see but also that which he may see For what hath hee which hee hath not received Yea both that hee may be put in minde not onely to see thee who art ever the same but that he may be made strong to hold thee and that he who from a farre off is not able to see his way may yet walke on to the end he may at last arrive and see and comprehend For though a man be delighted with the Law of God after the inner man yet how shall he doe with that other Law in his members which warres against the Law of his minde and bringeth him into captivity to the Law of sin which is in his members For thou art righteous O Lord but we have sinned and committed iniquity and thy hand is growne heavy upon us ●and we are justly delivered over unto that old Sinner the President of death for he hath wrought our will to become like his will whereby he departed from thy Truth 2. What shall wretched man doe who shall deliver him from the body of this death but only thy Grace through Iesus Christ our Lord whom thou hast begotten coeternall to thy selfe and possessedst in the beginning of thy waies in whom the prince of this world found nothing worthy of death yet kild he him whereby the hand-writing was blotted out which was contrary to us None of all this doe these Platonike writings containe Those leaves can shew nothing of this face of peitie those teares of confession that sacrifice of thine a troubled spirit a broken and a contrite heart the salvation of thy people the Spouse the City the earnest of the Holy Ghost the Cup of our Redemption No man sings there Shall not my soule waite upon God seeing from him commeth my salvation For he is my God and my salvation my defence I shall not be greatly moved 2. No man in those Bookes heares him calling Come unto me all yee that labour yea they scorne to learne of him because he is meeke and lowly inheart For these things hast thou hid from the wise and prudent and hast revealed themunto babes For it is one thing from the wilde top of a Mountaine to see the Land of Peace and not to find the way thither and in vaine to travell through wayes unpassable round about beset with these fugitive Spirits forsakers of their God lying in ambush with that Ring-leader of theirs the Lion and the Dragon and another thing to keep on the way that leades thither which is guarded by the care of our heavenly Generall where they exercise no robberies that forsooke the heavenly Armie which they abhorre as much as their very torment These things did by wonderfull meanes sinke into my very bowels when as I read that least of thy Apostles and had considered upon thy workes and trembled * ⁎ * SAINT AVGVSTINES Confessions THE EIGHTH BOOKE CHAP. 1. How being inflamed with the love of heavenly things hee goeth to Simplicianus GIve me leave O my God with Thanksgiving to remember confesse unto thee thine owne mercies bestowed upon me Let my bones be filled with thy love and let them say unto thee Who is like unto thee O Lord thou hast broken my bonds in sunder I will offer unto thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving And how thou hast broken them will I now declare and all men who worship thee when they heare of it shall say Blessed bee the Lord both in Heaven and in Earth great and wonderfull is his Name Thy words had stucke fast even to the very roots of my heart and I was hedged round about by thee Of the eternity of thy life I was now become certaine though I had no more than seene it in a glasse as it were darkely All my former doubtings concerning an incorruptible substance from which all other substance should derive its being was now quite taken away from me nor did I desire as now to bee made more certaine of thee but better assured in thee As for mine owne temporall life all things were as yet unresolved my heart was to be purged from the old leaven The way our Saviour himselfe I very well liked oft but it i●ked me to follow him through those stre●ghts which he had passed 2. Thous didst put into my minde and it seemed good in mine owne eyes to goe unto Simplicianus

another law in my members rebelled against the Law of my minde leading me captive into the law of sinne which was in my members That law of sinnow is the violence of custome by which the mind of man is drawn and holden against it's will deserving to be so holden for that it so willingly slides into that custome Wretched I therefore who shall deliver me from the body of this death but thy grace onely through Jesus Christ our Lord CHAP. 6. Pontitianus relates the life of St. Anthony 1. AND the manner how thou deliveredst me out of the bonds of desire which I had unto carnall concupiscence wherewith I was most straightly fettered and from the drudgery of worldly businesse will I now declare and confesse unto thy name O Lord my helper and my redeemer My wonted unsetlednesse of mind grew more and more upon me and I daily sent up sighes unto thee Thy Church I resorted frequently unto as my businesse under the burden of which I groaned would give me leave Alipius was now in company with me having a time of leasure from his law-businesse now after the third Sitting expecting other Clients whom he might sell his counsaile unto as I used to sell the skill of pleading if that skill in the meane time be not a gift of nature rather than a purchase of Art Nebridius had now so farre condescended to our friendly requests as privately to instruct Verecundus a very familiar friend to all of us a Citizen and a Grammarian of Millan who vehemently requested and by the right of friend shippe did even challenge such a friendly ayd from our company as he very much stood in need of 2. Nebridius therefore was not drawne to that paines by any desire of profit for he might have taken more beneficiall courses if hee had pleased to make use of his learning but being a most sweet and tractable companion out of his respects of courtesie would not slight the request we made to him But he carried it very discreetly still wary of being knowne to those personages whom the world esteem'd great declining thereby all breaking off the quiet of his owne minde which he resolved to reserve free to himselfe and at leasure as many houres as might be for the seeking or reading or hearing something concerning Wisedome 3. Vpon a certaine day therefore Nebridius being absent the occasion I doe not now remember behold there came home unto me and Alipius one Pontitianus a Country man of ours an Affrican who had an office of good credit in the Emperours Court What he would with us I now know not but downe together we sate and into discourse wee fell It so hapned that upon the table before us which we used to play upon he espied a booke lying up hee tooke and opened it and quite besides his expectation found it to be S. Pauls Epistles whereas he rather thought it had been some of those bookes which I ware out my selfe in the teaching of At which he smiling to himselfe and looking upon me in congratulating manner as it were wondered not a little that hee had so unexpectedly found such a kinde of booke and onely such an one lying before me For hee was both a Christian and Baptized too and one that often used to prostrate himselfe before thee our GOD in the Church in frequent and daily prayers Whom therefore when I had once told how that I bestowed much paines upon those writings there began a speech himselfe being the relater of Anthony the Monke of Egypt whose name was in most high reputation among thy servants though for our parts wee had not so much as once heard of him to that houre Which when he had discovered hee insisted the more upon that discourse insinuating the knowledge of so famous a man unto us and admiring at that our ignorance of him 4. But we stood amazed on the other side hearing such wonderfull workes of thine so generally testified so fresh in memory and almost in our owne times to be done in the true faith and Church Catholike We all wondered wee to heare such great things reported and hee that we had never heard them From this story of Anthony tooke he occasion to discourse of some companies of Monasteries and the fashions of thine owne sweet-smelling savour the desart brests of the Wildernesse of all which wee knew nothing And there was at the same time a Monastery at Millan full of good brethren without the walls of the Citie vnder Ambrose the nourisher of it and yet wee knew nothing of it Hee went on with his tale and wee listned to him with great silence Hereupon tooke he occasion to tell how himselfe I know not at what time and three other of his Comrades and it was at Triers when as the Emperour was taken up with seeing of the Circensian chariot-races one afternoone went out to walke into the Gardens next the Citie Walls where as it fell out they sorted themselves into two companies one of the three keeping with him and the other two walking at large also by themselves But as these two were ranging up and downe they stumbled by chance upon a certaine little house inhabited by divers of thy servant poore in spirit of whom is the Kingdome of God where they found a little booke wherein the life of Anthony was described 5. One of them beganne to read wonder at it and to be inflamed with it and even in the very reading to devise with himselfe upon the taking such a life upon him and by giving over his secular imployments to betake himselfe unto thy service And this man was one of those Officers of Court whom they stile Agents for the publike affaires Then suddenly being filled with an holy love and a sober shame fastnesse even angry at himselfe again he cast his eies upon his friend saying Tell me I intreat thee what preferment is that unto which all these labours of ours aspire what ayme wee at what is it we serve the State for can our hopes in Court rise higher than to be the Emperours Favourites in which fortune what is there not brittle and full of perills and by how many dangers arrive we at last unto one danger greater than all the rest And how long shall we be in getting thus high whereas if I be desirous to become the friend of God loe I am even now made it 6. This hee said And all in paine in the Travaile of newnesse of life he turn'd his eyes againe upon the book and read on and was inwardly changed where thou alone couldst discerne him and his minde was quite dispossest of worldly cares as presently after it appeared For as hee read forward and rowl'd up and downe those waves of his heart hee made expression of some indignation at himselfe felt an inward conflict and resolved finally of much better courses And thus now become wholly thine hee saith unto his friend

how long will ye be dull of heart how long will yee love vanity and seeke after leasing For I my selfe had sometimes loved vanity and sought after leasing But thou O Lord hast magnified him that is godly raising him from the dead and placing him at thy Right hand whence from on high hee should send his promise the Comforter the Spirit of truth And he had sent him already but I knew it not 4. He had already sent him because he was now exalted by rising from the dead and ascending up into heaven For till then The Holy Ghost was not given because Iesus was not yet glorified And the Prophet cryes out How long O yee slow of heart Why will ye love vanity and seeke after leasing Know this that the Lord hath set apart his Holy one He cryes out How long he cryes out Know this whereas I so long ignorant have loved vanity and sought after leasing yea I both heard and trembled because it was spoken vnto such as I remēbred my selfe somtimes to haue beene For verily in those Phantasticall fictions which I once held for truths was there both vanity and leasing wherefore I roared out many things sorrow fully strangely whilst I grieued at what I now remembred All which I wish they had heard who yet loue vanity and seeke after leasing They would perchance haue beene troubled and haue vomitted vp their poyson and to Thou mightest haue heard them when they cryed vnto thee for Hee died a true death in the flesh for vs who now maketh intercession vnto thee for vs. I further reade 〈◊〉 angry and sinne not And how was I moued O my God I who had then learned to bee angry at my selfe for things passed that I might not sinne in time to come Yea to bee iustly angry for that it was not any other nature of a different kinde of darknesse without me which sinned as the Manichees affirme it to bee who are not angry at themselues and who treasure vp wrath against the day of wrath and of the renelation of the iust iudgement of God Nor indeede was my Good without me nor to be caught with the eyes of flesh vnder the Sunne seeing they that will take ioy in any thing without themselues doe easily become vayne and spill themselues vpon those things which are seene and are but temporally yea and with their hunger-starued thoughts like their very shadowes And oh that they were once wearied out with their hunger and come once to say Who will shew vs day good Let vs say so and let them heare The light of thy countenance is lifted vp vpon vs. For wee our selues are not that light which enlighteneth euery man that commeth into the world but wee are enlightened by thee as who hauing beene some times darknesse may now be light in thee 5. O that they might once 〈◊〉 that Eternall Eight●● which for that my selfe had once tasted I guashed my ●●th at them because I was not able to make them see it 〈◊〉 not though they should 〈◊〉 mee their heart in their 〈◊〉 eyes which are euer 〈◊〉 from thee that so 〈◊〉 might say Who will shew 〈◊〉 good 〈…〉 euen 〈◊〉 was 〈…〉 selfe in my chamber being inwardly pricked there offering my sacrifice there also my old man and the meditation of my newnesse of life now begunne in mee putting my trust in thee There begannest thou to grow sweete vnto me and to put gladnesse in my heart And I cryed out as I read this outwardly finding this gladnesse inwardly Nor would I bee any more encreased with worldly goods wasting away my time and being wasted by these temporall things whereas I had in thy eternall simplicity a store layd vp of Corne and Wine and Oyle 6. And with alowd cry of my heart called I out in the next verse O in peace O for that same peace O what sayd hee I will lay ●●● downe and sleeps 〈…〉 hinder vs when 〈…〉 saying shall be brought to passe which is written Death is swallowed vp in victory And thou surpassingly ●t that same Rest thou who art not changed and in thee is that Rest which forgets all 〈◊〉 labours nor is there any other besides thee no nor hast thou appointed mee to seeke after those many other things which art not the same that thou art but thou Lord after a speciall manner hast made mee dwell in hope These things I read and burnt againe nor could I tell what to do to those deafe and dead Manichees of whom my selfe was sometimes a pestilent member asnarling and a blind 〈◊〉 against thy Scriptures all behonyed ouer with the 〈◊〉 of heauen and all lightsome with thine owne light yea I consumed away with zeale at the enemies of these Scriptures when as I cald to minde euery thing that I had done in those dayes of my retirement 7. Nor haue I yet forgotten neyther will I passe in silence the smartnesse of thy scourge and the wonderfull swiftnesse of thy mercy Thou didst in those dayes torment me with the Tooth-ach which when it had growne so fierce vpon me that I was not able to speake it came into my heart to desire my friends present to pray for me vnto thee the God of all manner of health And this I wrote in waxe and gaue it to them to read Immediately so soone as with an humble deuotion wee had bowed our knees that payne went away But what payne or how went it away I was much affrayed O my Lord my God seeing from mine infancy I had neuer felt the like And thou gauest me a secret Item by this how powerfull thy Beck was for which I much reioycing in sayth gaue praise vnto thy name And that sayth suffered mee not to bee secure in the remembrance of my forepassed sinnes which hitherto were not for giuen mee by thy Baptisme CHAP. 5. Ambrose directs him what bookes to read 1. AT the end of the vintage I gaue the Citizens of Millane faire warning to prouide their schollers of another Master to sell words to them for that I had made choyce to serue thee and for that by reason of my difficulty of breathing and the paine in my brest I was not able to goe on in the Professorship And by letters I signified to that Prelate of thine the holy man Ambrose my former errors and presentresolution desiring him to aduise mee what part of thy Scriptures were best for my reading to make me readier and fitter for the receyuing of so great a grace He recommended Esaias the Prophet to mee for this reason I beleeue for that hee is a more cleare foreshewer of the Gospell and of the calling of the Gentiles then are the rest of the Prophets But I not vnderstanding the first part of him and imagining all the rest to bee like that layd it by intending to fall to it againe when I were better practized in our Lords