Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	woeful_a	world_n	wretched_a	34	3	7.7425	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A21002	A buckler against adversitie, or, A treatise of constancie written in French by the Right Honourable the Lord Du Vair ... ; and now done into English by Andreuu Court.; De la constance et consolation és calamites publiques. English. 1622	Du Vair, Guillaume, 1556-1621.; Court, Andrew.	1622 (1622)	STC 7373; ESTC S786	88,690	171

looked vpon or that that the publike robbery hath not hit and that howsoeuer hath not beene bereaued of his goods by the desolation of the countrey and sent way naked as a man escaped from a shipwracke It is here where one must shew himselfe a man and make appeare that Vertue doth not consist in words but in braue and generous resolutions It is needfull first for the good Cittizen to beare patiently his afflictions iudging well and religiously of diuine Prouidence without the which as you heard nothing happeneth in this world acknowledging his misfortune to be his iust share and portion of humane societie vnto whose common euill he ought to participate as hee hath done and should also haue his share of the good if it happened Secondly I desire that this patience should not be setled only in his heart but euen it should shine on his forehead as well to beare an honourable testimony vnto Vertue and shew what she can doe against misfortune as to be in stead of a faire and cleere mirrour on which his fellow Cittizens compose and dresse their actions as by an excellent perfect patterne It is at all times a thing worthy of prayse to serue his for an example of doing well but it is a thing very beneficiall and profitable in a time full of trouble and calamitie to be an example vnto them of patience As the first happinesse is to auoyd euill so the second is to beare it constantly But I will not vndertake here to set forth the reasons which mooue vs to this constancy that perswade vs yea that inforce vs to it if we will continue to be men That which Musaeus and Orpheus haue spoke of it before me is more then sufficient Neuerthelesse if all reasons were to be weighed I should thinke that which remained behind and which Orpheus did but point at should carry it away before all the others For those which are once fully perswaded that death is but a passage to a better life should neuer feare it Now if death beyond which reach neither the Empire of Fortune nor the threats of the Lawes frighteth them not what shall the iniuries and threates of men do that are but the hands of Fortune and the instruments of the Lawes And contrariwise those which beleeue it not what precepts may one giue them or what reasons alledge that may comfort them in their calamities for though you shew them that afflictions befall vs by a common right by the Law of Nature and not by the iniury of that supposed Fortune and that nothing happeneth but by the ordinance of diuine Prouidence that healeth not the wound they receiue in their hearts to see that innocency is a subiect of miserie and torment If you make them see nothing but that space that is inclosed betweene their birth and their death as within two bounds I doe not see why they should forsake the pleasures of the world to disturbe their life with that harsh and bitter Vertue I see no reason why man should not be offended with Nature for making him the most wofull wretched creature of all those the Sunne beholdeth and laugh Vertue to scorne that setteth forth so many toyles and labours without any reward Wee haue saith Plato two great Demons which put vs forward and backeward in our actions Reward and Punishment Now I doe not see how wee can finde them in this world wherein for the most part the good are afflicted and the wicked are comforted Wee must then set our hopes further and cause them to passe beyond the bounds of this short and wretched life and know that death is the first of all our true goods and the beginning of our happinesse felicitie Man is not onely mortall as one saith to the end there might be an end for his miserie and that the good may be praised without enuy and the wicked blamed without feare that riches may be despised as vnprofitable after it but specially to this end that the good may be eternally happie and the wicked vnhappie That is the consolation which doth allay our labours and feedeth our patience with the hope or rather assurance of a life eternall and without bound that waiteth for vs at our departure from hence Whereupon would to God wee could meditate euery day euery houre and euery moment wee should finde in this meditation a sufficient comfort to our aduersitie and a comely moderation in our prosperities But alas We keepe backe our thoughts from it as much as wee can and which is worst many beleeue it not at all and could wish willingly to be no more after death lest they should be as they deserue They doe what they can to cause their soule to die with their body and goe and borrow reasons of ancient Phylosophers to deny and ouerthrow the onely scope the onely reward and the last end of Phylosophy As for me I thinke they are punished enough with their malitious opinion that taketh out of their hands the chiefest hope that asswageth and seasoneth this tart and bitter life and could willingly say they should euen suffer them to be so miserable since they are willing to be so But it seemeth that you haue layd a charge vpon me to vpbraid them with their errour and condemne them by their owne reasons For you could not prescribe vnto mee vpon any other occasion to finish this discourse with the recitall of the last words of that good ancient man but onely thereby to conuict them of their blindnesse by the light of so rare a wisedome As for you I know you desire neither proofe nor explanation of this point you I say that beleeue it not only affirme and publish it but euen make it the Preface and conclusion of all your speeches and of all your actions So that the discourse of it would bee but vnprofitable and troublesome to you without you be accustomed to vse it as the Egyptians did their Sceletos and that you cannot rise from the table without you heare some talke of the immortalitie of the soule no more then they of the death of the body Of perhaps as the memory of this man is very deere vnto you you desire to renew it with the remembrance of so faire an end I will rehearse then as neere as I can what hee told vs vpon this subiect the day before God tooke him from hence as from vnder the ruine of this State This goodly ancient man had spent all his life in the Palace being then threescore and fifteene yeeres old He had seene many cōmotions in this kingdome that had disturbed the quiet of it but hee had seene none yet that threatned the ruine and dissipation of the State The king hauing sent for him from his house of Celi vpon weighty and and important affaires and which concerned the broyles that haue so much vexed vs since and hee hauing by the consideration of this businesse foreseene the miseries that were like to come