Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	path_n	young_a	youth_n	18	3	7.7230	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B14844	Six excellent treatises of life and death collected (and published in French) by Philip Mornay, sieur du Plessis ; and now (first) translated into English.	Mornay, Philippe de, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, 1549-1623.; Cyprian, Saint, Bishop of Carthage.; Ambrose, Saint, Bishop of Milan, d. 397.; Cicero, Marcus Tullius.; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, ca. 4 B.C.-65 A.D.	1607 (1607)	STC 18155; ESTC S94239	82,027	544

who honor thee in this world but to resplendent and most excellent verity her self Axi Thy discourse hath made mee change my mind I am now so far from fearing death that contrariwise I ardently desire the same and to expresse my selfe more magnanimiously I am already in a maner out of the world and begin to enter into these diuine and eternall paths so that being wholly eased of my infirmity I am quite become another man than that I was before CICERO in his dialogue of old age towards the end THere remaines a fourth reason which seems to vexe and torment olde age that is to say the approach of Death which at that time can not bee farre off But I think that old man to be very miserable which in the space of so long time before neuer learned that death simplie was not to bee feared but rather to bee cōtemned if it destroy the soule as some thinke but according to my opinion it ought to bee desired seeing it leades man to a place where he shall liue eternally Wee cannot finde any one betwixt these two opinions What should I then feare if I either feele no misery at all or if I shall bee happie after death Besides this is ther any man so foolish how yong a Gul soeuer he be to suppose that he hath a Patent of his life but til the euening He is so farre from that that euen youth it self is subiect to many more kinds of death than old age yong men sooner fall into diseases they are more grieuously sicke and hardlier healed so that it is rare to see men liue to bee olde If this were not wee should liue more wisely and happily for old men are indued with the vnderstanding of counsel and wisedome and without them Cōmon-wealths could not stand on foote But let vs come to this feare of present death and in that olde age is wrongfully charged to be subiect to this apprehension feeing this is a more common accident with youth For my part I felt in the death of my sonne your brothers of whom great hope of good hereafter was cōceiued that death threatens all ages Some body may reply that a yong man hopes to liue long which one aged cannot expect This hope is truely the hope of a yong man that is to say of a light head For is there a greater sottishnes than to make sure and certain of that which is altogether vncertaine and vnsure But an old man hath no reason in the world to cōceiue any such hope and I affirme that his condition herein is far better thā a yong mans in that he hath obtained what the young man doth but hope for and that is long life which the olde man hath passed I pray you what length doe you find in a mans life fet down vnto me the longest of all others Let vs consider the age of the King of the Tartessians for I find in bookes that one Arganthonius reigned fourescore and liued sixescore yeeres but I see that ther is nothing long but tendeth to some period the which being attained vnto all the rest is gone and past ther remaining nothing but what thou hast obtained by Iustice and pietie The howers passe away so doe the moneths that past neuer returnes againe what will come hereafter we knowe not Euery one must be contented with the time allotted him to liue For as hee that playes a Part vpon a stage needes not to repeat the whole Comedie from one end to the other to make him be accompted a good Actor so that in the Part which he properly plaieth he giue contentmēt to the spectatours no more is it requisite that the wise man should liue as long as the oldest man that euer liued in the worlde because a shorte life is long enough for a man to carrie himselfe therein honestly and vertuously And so if our dayes shoot out at length we must be no more weary of them than labourers that after the beautie of the Spring time see Summer ensue and then Autumne For the Spring time resembles youth and makes some demonstration of the fruits which afterward must be reaped Other ages are proper to gather and lay vp the increase of the earth and the fruit of olde age is the remembraunce of those goods which wee haue formerly purchased whatsoeuer is done according to nature we may place in the rank of good things But what is more naturall than to see old men die The same falles out to youth but somewhat against Nature and as it were in despite of her so that when yong men die me thinkes I see as it were a great fire quenched by an huge quantity of water where as contrariwise old men droppe away of thēselues without any violence offered like to a fire that quencheth of it selfe And euen as apples but greene and vnripe fall not from the trees except we violently pluck them off being ripe they fall off without vsing any great force thereto so also young men seeme to die not without some violence offered to their nature old men quite otherwise The which so cheares mee vp that the neerer I approach vnto death the neerer I discerne my selfe to hale in with that harbor and port where I pretend to anchor after so long dangerous a nauigatiō All the ages of our life are limited but only old age wherein wee liue vertuously as long as the means yet remaines to labour in our vocation and otherwise to hold death in contempt the which may bee the reason also that old age is more ardent and couragious than youth This is that which Solon answered to the Tyrant Lisistratus who interrogated him concerning vertue wherewith he so braued him and was alwaies opposite to his designes because sayd Solon I am old but the ende of this life is then most sweet and excellent when the same Nature which built defaceth also her worke whē a man til the last retains his senses vnderstāding entire For euen as the Carpenter or Architect can easily when he lists plucke the ribs and beames of his ship asunder or the other plucke downe that building which he had erected euen so Nature most properly dissolueth a man whom shee before had sodered together of two so different pieces now al kind of Soder and conglutination lately made is hardly dissolued but in that old and long worn it is otherwise and so the remainder of life is not much desired or sighed after by the aged who haue reason rather to be ready to dislodge expecting minutally the great Captains comandement which is God without whose will and pleasure as Pythagoras sayd wee are prohibited to leaue our Guarison Corps du guard wherin we are constituted in this worlde There is a notable saying ascribed to the wise Solon wherin hee would haue his friends to mourne and lament his death which makes me thinke that his meaning onely was herein that they should shewe to

into protection and the infidels receiue such punishmēt as they deserue My deare brethren we are euill aduised being ingratefull forgetful of Gods benefits not acknowledging the graces which he hath bestowed vpon vs. See how our daughters carrie their honor vnspotted out of this world fearing neither the menaces violation or villanies of the enemies of Christs religion yong lads haue by this means escaped the slippery paths of youth and haue happily gotten the goale to obtaine the crowne of their continencie and innocencie the tender womā needs no more to feare torments hauing gained by a light easie death this priuiledge that the hang-mans hand hath now no power ouer her The time and apprehension of such a death heateth the luke-warme confirmes the feeble rowseth the sleepie constraineth those reuolted to returne vnto the Church induceth Idolatrers to imbrace the doctrine of the Gospel procures the faithfull that of long time haue made proiession of this Religiō to enter into repose they lately come into the Church in great number gather assured strength courage from that time forward to fight without any feare of death when dangers present themselues being entred into the skirmish in so troublesome and perillous a time Furthermore dear brethren is it not a cōmendable and necessary thing that by this mortall maladie the thoughts and affections of euery one should be reuealed We may now see whether the found will assist the sicke whether one kinsman according to God hath loued another if Masters haue had compassion of their slaues languishing if Physicians haue visited those patients that implored their helpe if the insolent refrained their violence if theeues and pilierers by the feare of death haue giuen ouer their insatiable thirst of auarice if the proud haue bowed their heads if the wicked haue bridled their impudencie and briefly whether the rich that haue lost their children neerest kinred seeing themselues now destitute of heires successors doe distribute their almes liberally to the poore And though the plague serued to no other end but to put into Christians a desire to shed their blood for Religion learning in such a time not to fear death this would bee a singular benefit This visitation is rather an exercise than a death vnto vs It giues occasion to the mind to glory in the force giuen vnto it and making death cōtemptible it disposeth vs to run hastily to the receiuing of our crown But some body perhaps will replie and say That which grieues me in this mortalitie is that being prepared to maintaine Religion and feeling my selfe disposed to endure death couragiously and ioyfully for Gods name I am depriued of this benefit by the preuention of death I answere first That to suffer for Iesus Christ lies not in thine owne power but is a gift of God and then thou canst not iustly complain for losing of that which peraduēture was not requisite for thee For the rest God which searcheth and knoweth the heart and the secret thoughts thereof sees thee if thou speakest frō a pure vncorrupted hart he approues cōmends thy good will and discerning the vertue which hee himselfe put into thee he will reward thee for the same When Cain offred sacrifice vnto God hee had not yet killed his brother and God notwithstanding cōdemned his paricidie not thē perpetrated hauing discouered his deep malice and pernitious determination and euen so when the seruants of God secretly resolue and determine in thēselues stoutly to maintaine the trueth with the expēce of their owne blood God who sees their good mindes and hearts doeth crown them aswell as if they had performed the cōbate There is a great difference between saying that will was wanting to Martyrdom and that martyrdome was wanting to will Such as God findes thee whē he cals thee so he iudgeth thee euē as he himself protests saying And all the Churches shall knowe that I search the reines and hart For in other respects God demands not our blood but our faith Neither Abrahā Isaac nor Iacob were slaine and yet neuerthelesse they are ranked amongst the chiefe Patriarkes bearing the titles of faith and righteousnes whosoeuer is faithful iust and worthy of prayse he comes to the table banquet of these Patriarkes To resume our former discourse let vs call to mind that we must performe Gods will and not our owne following that prayer which Iesus Christ hath taught vs. What is it but to disturbe ouer throwe all piety when demanding that the wil of God may be fulfilled we recoyle and drawe backe when he would take vs out of the world When we thus hang taile and like rebellious slaues come not in our masters presence but with euill will and by compulsion leauing the world because it would be a fault to doe otherwise notthrough any desire we haue to rest satisfied in the wil of God how can we request at his hands the heauenly rewards to which wee doe not approach but by compulsion Why doe wee pray that his kingdome may come seeing wee take such delight to remaine in the prison of the worlde Why heape we prayers vpon prayers that the general restauratiō of all things may approach if our greater more affectionate desires would rather serue here below the enemie of our saluation than to raigne aboue with Iesus Christ But that the testimonies of diuine prouidence may the better be layed open that we may vnderstand that the Lord who fore-knoweth all things to come hath care of his childrens saluation it so happened that one of our companions in the Ministerie being pluckt downe by this disease and perceiuing himselfe neere to death demaunding the Eucharist as if hee aspired to God and had bin drawing his last gasp an honorable yong man very maiesticall high of stature and welfauoured of countenance being so relucent that no humane eye could firmely behold him appeared was seen by this man being rather out of thā in this worlde Then this glorious yong man with a lowd voice and as it were in choler said vnto him sicke You feare aduersitie you would not willingly remoue what should I do vnto you It is a voyce which chides and admonisheth vs iumps not with their desires which feare persecution and care not for going to God but to prouide still for hereafter Our brother and companion in dying learned a thing which all suruiuants ought to thinke vpon for he vnderstanding it when hee went out of the world it was told him to the ende that he should deliuer it vnto others and hee vnderstood it not onlie for himselfe but for vs. For though he haue need to learn that is ready to goe out of this world yet this man learning at his last hour he was liuely admonished to the end that we which suruiue after him may learn to vnderstād that which is expedient and necessary for vs. How often haue we of little faith vnderstood how

these corporall bonds The which being granted honor mee then as a thing diuine but if the soule were to perish with the body yet for all this forbeare not to feare the Gods which support and gouerne this principall worke of theirs that is called man the which like to good children performing you shall inuiolably preserue the memoriall of my name This was Cyrus his discourse a little before his death But if I shall not herein bee too burdensom vnto you hearken what I will deliuer vnto you in mine owne behalfe No body shall euer perswade me O Scipio that either your predecessors or other men of great note whō it is not requisite to name would euer haue enterprised such memorable exploits to all posterities but that they cōsidered that their being in the world was to no other ende but to procure the good of their successors Think you to speake plainely and after the manner of old men which loue to set foorth themselues that I would haue so trauelled both day and night in warre peace if my renowne and glory should finish with this present life would it not be better then to liue idle and in repose without any trouble or vexation But my soule I know not in what maner gathering together new forces regardeth happinesse with such a penetrant eye as if departing this world shee should but only then beginne to liue And if it were otherwise that soules were not immortall honest men would not aspire vnto a perpetuall glory What is the meaning of this that euery wise man dies willingly and the wicked with great grief Think you not that the soule which sees farre clearer and further off knowes well that shee is going to a better place and on the contrary hee which hath an heauie and disturbed soule sees not the like Surely I desire nothing more thā to see your Fathers whom I haue honoured and cherished And besides the desire which I haue to drawe neere thē that I haue knowen I would willingly also talke with those of whō I haue heard which shewed thēselues vnto mee by their bookes and whose names I haue set downe amongst mine owne writings Now that I drawe neere vnto them it would displease me much to hang backward or to bee rowled downe againe as wee might doe with a round ball And if some God had permitted me to returne againe into my infancie and to crie in my cradle I would very constantly and flatly refuse such an offer for seeing I haue almost run my race I would not be called backe again from my goale to the first setting forward Is ther any true commoditie in this life Is it not troublesome through al the periods thereof But admit there are some cōmodities therein yet are we far from finding satisfactiō or obtaining of our wished ends and desires I will not raile against the same as diuers learned men haue often-times done neither repent I that I haue liued for I haue so passed my time that I am of opinion I haue done some good in the world I goe out of this life as out of an Inne not as out of mine own house seeing Nature hath sent vs forth hither for a litle time to passe forward in our iourney and not cōtinually here to inhabit Oh happy will that day be when I shall depart to this celestiall assembly of soules and leaue the rascallitie of this world for I shal not only then bee with those good men aboue-named but also with mine owne sonne one of the best men that euer the earth brought foorth whose body I haue seen brought to ashes wheras in reason hee should rather haue seen the like by mine But see his soule neuer leaues mee but continually fixing her lookes vpon me she is flowen vp now into those places whither she knowes that I must follow I bare this losse patiently as it appeares but yet I confesse that I was much trobled therwith euer comforting my selfe with this Meditatiō that ther should bee no long space betweene her departure and mine Out of the Epistles of SENECA Epist. XXIIII RVminate I pray thee in thine owne minde what thou hast often heard and as often spoken but then make triall of it by effect if you haue either heard or seriously vttered the same For it would bee too great a basenes in vs as men vse to cast in our teeth that we should only vse the words and not the workes of Philosophie As I remember I haue heard you sometimes handle this common place that we fall not suddenly vpō death but march towards the same by little and little To say the trueth wee die euery day for euery day a peece of our life slides away whatsoeuer is past and gone of our yeeres Death hath it already in his hands yea and euer when we our selues doe growe our life decreaseth First we lose our Infancie then our Adolescencie and then our youth Euen to the day before this what time soeuer is past is lost and gone the present day which now we passe we share stakes therein with Death So ought we alwayes to be confirmed both in the one and the other that we doe not too much loue nor hate our life we must end it when reason summons vs thereunto but wee must not desperatly nor rashly leaue it like one that takes his runne to fetch the better rise A wise and magnanimious man must neuer flie nor shun this life except when he is departing there-from but auoide like a rock a vicious passion which surprizeth and layes holde of many which is to say the desire and hastening of death Epist. XXVI DOubtlesse I debate with my self I discusse make exact examination as if my triall were at hande and the day already comne that must giue sentence of al my yeeres and dayes past Whatsoeuer wee haue either done or said hitherto is nothing they are but vaine and slight testimonials of our courage intermixed with much deceit cousinage Death only will assure mee what I haue profited in Philosophie I therefore prepare my selfe without all feare for that day wherein without all sophistication I shall bee able to iudge whether I haue been faint hearted or magnanimious both in word and deed when I vsed to bulke forth so many iniurious and reproachfull words against Fortune Concerning the esteem we are in amongst men it is alwaies doubtfull and declining on euery side also concerning thy studies and endeuors examine well al thy whole life Death shal denounce sentence vpon thee I say that disputatiōs learned discourse sentences collected from the precepts of wise men and speach adorned shew not the true force of courage the greatest cowardes haue many times the hardiest talke then it will onely appeare what thou hast profited when thou commest to combate with Death I am well content with humane condition I haue no feare of this iudgement Thou art yonger what cares he Here is no accompt made of yeeres no man

against this set down vnto me some prescription whereby I may not feare Death that life may not thus slip from me Teach me how the happinesse of this life consistes not in the length but in the vsage of the same that it so may and doeth often-times fall out that he which liues longest hath liued least time hee liuing least while longest Nature hath sent vs into the worlde very docile She gaue vs an imperfect reason which by our indeuours may be made more perfect Epist. LVII OVr bodies ebbe and turne backe like the course of the waters All the time which thou seest flits away with the time it selfe Nothing remains of all that wee see Euen I while I am now saying that all things are changed am changed my selfe Is it not that which Heraclitus affirmed wee in a manner descend not descend in one and the selfe same riuer the riuer retaines the same name but the waters fall away The like is in man but that it may more easily be discerned in a riuer wee are transported with no lesse swift course than this And therefore I can not but wonder at our follie that wee should so dearly loue a thing that so quickly leaues vs I meane this body of whose death wee are so much afraid seeing euery moment of this life is the death of the other Wilt thou feare that once which is acted alwayes fearest thou to die once when thou diest euery day by little and little Epist. LXII I Endeuour that euery day may be vnto me as all the rest of my life and yet I followe it not hard as if it were the last but questionlesse as potētially it may be the last In the same manner I wright vnto you this Letter euen as if in writing the same Death shuld cal me away I am now ready to depart and yet enioy still this life For making no great account of future time I labor to liue wel before old age in my olde age to die well To dy wel is no other thing but to die willingly Take a course that in all things which requisitely thou must performe thou doest not anything by compulsion Constraint and necessitie is for those that resist and not for those that doe things willingly He that doth of his own accord is not vrged nor constrained And therefore I say that he which willingly embraceth commandements is acquited of the most burdensome part of seruitude which is to doe that we would not Hee is not miserable that doth any thing by command but he that doth it in despite of his owne will Let vs therfore so frame our courage and willes that we may affect whatsoeuer the thing requireth aboue al without sorrow let vs thinke on our end for it is conuenient to prepare for death before Life Life is well enough furnisht of it self but we are too eager after the prouisions of the same we daily do wil think that still we want somthing Neither yeers nor dayes hinder our liuing long enough but onely our owne willes and desires I haue liued my deare friend Locilius so long as is sufficient I expect death as being fully replenished satisfied with life Epist. LXXI WE must one day arriue at this pleasant Port and wee ought not to refuse it but if any one come there to anchor in his first yeeres hee must no more complaine therefore than he which hath quickly made his voyage by Sea For as you knowe well the windes hold and detaine some long vpon the Sea or he is hindred by retardatiō of calms when others runne their course swiftly with a fuzzing gallāt gale Imagine it so falles out with vs. Life caries some speedily to the place whither they must haue come at last though at leasure Others she holds a long time scorcheth them in their course but we our selues must neuer seeke to detain her For properly it is not a good to liue but to liue well and therfore a wise man liues as lōg as he should though not as long as he might Not one of vs amongst a thousand considers that one day wee must leaue this earthly tabernacle wee doe like the ancient inhabitants of a place which by habite and custome continue their abode though with a thousand iniuries and oppressions But wouldest thou be free in despite of this bodie in habite it as before the chāging of a lodging propound vnto it that one day thou must leaue that habitatiō Thou shalt by this means be the more couragious against the necessitie of thy departure but how can hee truely thinke of his end that endlesly wishes for desires al Ther is nothing wherein ordinary Meditation is so necessarily required Epist. LXXVIII THere is not so stupide or grosse amā which knowes not that one day he must die and yet when hee comes to the point he turnes his backe he trembles he laments I pray you he that should mourne because he had not liued a thousand yeeres agoe would you not iudge him the veriest sotte in the world As very a foole is he that weepes because he shall not liue a thousand yeers hence These bee like things Thou shalt not be and thou wert not All these two times belong to an other To this present point thou art reduced and admit thou extendest the same a litle whither supposest thou to extend it Why lamentest thou what defirest thou thou loosest but thy labour Neuer think that Gods preordination will bee diuerted by thy prayers It is firme irreuocable and conducted by a wonderful and eternall necessitie Thou shalt goe whither all things go what thing is new vnto thee thou wert borne to this condition the same happened to thy Father thy Mother to all thy predecessors those went before thee as also to all them that shal come after thee It is an indissoluble chaine an immutable order which attracts concatenates vnto it all things Ther is no path but hath his end Miserable wretch as thou art thou makest thy selfe a slaue vnto men a slaue vnto goods a slaue vnto Life For where there is not vertue and willingnesse to death life is but a seruitude And what hast thou I pray thee for which thou attendest Thou hast consumed all those pleasures which might slothen or detain thee There is nothing new vnto thee nay more there is nothing which may not iustly stir vp in thee a disdaine so well shouldest thou be satisfied And yet forsooth these are the things from which thou so vnwillingly doest depart For what didst thou euer worthy to come to light Cōfesse the truth it is not for thy loue of the Palace or Court nor for a griefe to leaue the nature of things that thou drawest back from dying Thou leauest with griefe the market place where thou leftest nothing behind thee It stands with life as with a Stage-play It is no matter how long it last but how well it is acted whersoeuer