Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	womb_n	world_n	wrath_n	18	3	6.5015	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A23696	The art of patience and balm of Gilead under all afflictions an appendix to The art of contentment / by the author of The whole duty of man.	Allestree, Richard, 1619-1681.; Pakington, Dorothy Coventry, Lady, d. 1679.; Sterne, Richard, 1596?-1683.	1694 (1694)	Wing A1096; ESTC R20086	106,621	176

Mercies are everlasting and Remedies certain Be we but Penitent we cannot be Miserable 19. WE soon forgot this Visitation loss of Friends and God's Judgments and thought with foolish Agag that Surely the Bitterness of Death is past 1 Sam. 15.32 and provok'd him still to Wrath against us we must have after our Contagion a Purgation by Fire which the best Naturalists say is a proper Remedy against Infection the Almighty seeing it necessary to use this Prescription prepar'd it into a Medicine That great Conflagration which consum'd most part of our City to Ashes It was dreadful to behold and made most tremble yet what signs of Remorse do we shew What Vanity I fear I may ask what Vice have we substracted upon the Sense of God's Anger What nicety in Cloaths or Diet have we cut off in sympathy with the Nakedness and Hunger of our afflicted Brethren Nay do not the unreasonable Jollities among us look as if we triumpht in their Miseries found Musick in the Discordant Sound of their Groans and our own Laughter and emulated that infamous Barbarity of Nero who play'd while Rome burn'd 'T is mention'd by the Prophet as a most prepost'rous thing a kind of impious Solecism to revel under the Menace of Judgments Amos 4.11 I have over-thrown some of you as God over-threw Sodom and Gomorrah and ye were as a Fire-brand pluckt out of the Burning yet have ye not return'd to me saith the Lord. 20. FIRE is the Eagle in Nature nothing in the Elementary World mounts so high to its Place and stoops so low to its Prey The two Properties God himself ascribes to that Bird Job 39.27 30. And if we still refuse obstinately to be gather'd like Chickins under our Lord's Wings he can again let loose this Bird of Prey this Eagle of Heaven upon us and from the East where it began before flie it home like Lightning even to the utmost West to seize and to devour where-ever there is the least Quarry remaining 21. NEXT Gebal and Ammon and Amalek and the rest that Hell and Rome and their Partizans our Enemies on all hands both Foreign and Domestick have been so long Confederate against us saying Come and let us root them out that they be no more a People that the Name of that Reformed Church of England may be no more in remembrance They have often attempted to bring about their malicious Designs and yet have not been able to seize us To what can we justly ascribe all this but to the gracious Protection of the Almighty to whom we must fly for Defence and Aid 22. AND now when restless and unquiet Men the true Spawn of him whose Tail drew the third part of the Stars of Heaven and cast them to the Earth would fain by their Hellish Plots and Contrivances bring us down again from thence even down to the Ground and lay our Honor in the Dust When by their secret Machinations they are at work on all sides to hurry us back into the old Confusions in hope that out of that disorder'd Mass they may at length rear up a new World of their own but what a World A World made up of a new Heaven of Superstitions and Idolatries A new Earth too of Anarchy first and pretended Liberty but of Tyranny insufferable at the next Remove 23. IN such a dangerous State of Affairs as this whether should we nay whether else can we seek for Help and Deliverance but under his Protections the stretching out of whose Arms of Providence fills the Breadth of thy Land O England He can make these Cockatrice Eggs on which this Generation of Vipers that eat out the the Bowels of their Mother have sat so long abrood windy and addle So that out of the Serpents Root shall never proceed an Adder to bite us or a fiery flying Serpent to Devour us He can confound these Babel Builders with their City Tower and Temple their Foreign Policy and strange Worship their Novel Modes and Models of Governmnet in Church and State and scatter them abroad from hence upon the Face of the Earth like as a Dream when one awaketh So shall he despise their Images and their Imaginations too and make their whole Contrivance consume away like a Snail and Become like the untimely Fruit of a Woman which shall never see the Sun 24. AND And now let us cry mightily unto God and say Remember not Lord our Offences nor the Offences of our Fore-Fathers neither take thou Vengeance of our Sins Spare us good Lord spare thy People whom thou hast Redeemed with thy most Precious Blood and be not angry with us for ever And good Lord deliver us from Lightning and Tempest from Plague Pestilence F●mine and Fire from Battle and Murder and from sudden Death From all Sedition and Faction Privy Conspiracy and Rebellion from all false Doctrin Heresie and Schism from hardness of Heart and Contempt of the World and Commandment Libera nos Domine A Prayer in time of Publick Calamity O THOU God of Justice I humbly beseech thee in this thy Wrath to remember Mercy We confess O Lord our Guilt flasheth in our Faces and Woe unto us for we have Sinned We have not kept the way of the Lord but perfidiously departed from thee our God the Wise hath trusted in his Wisdom the Strong in his Strength and the Rich in his Riches Thus have we brought our selves under the Curse by trusting in the Arm of Flesh and the Ballances of Deceit are in our Hands and throughout the whole course of our Lives we have wrought a deceitful Work 2. BUT O God bow down thy Ear unto our Prayers attend unto the voice of our Supplications create in us new Hearts O God and renew right Spirits within us We have all been Examples of Sin O make us all Examples of Reformation that old things may pass away and all things may become new Deliver us O Lord from these Publick Calamities which we so Righteously have deserved and let not thy Displeasure arise any more against us and grant that we may serve thee for the future in Holiness and Righteousness all the days of our Lives Amen SECT VIII Loss of Friends 1. THOU hast lost thy Friend Thy Sorrow is just the Earth hath nothing more precious than what thou hast parted with For what is a Friend but a Man's self A Soul divided in two Bodies and animated by the same Spirit It is somewhat worse with thee than a Palsied Man whose half is stricken with Numbness he hath lost but the use of one side of his Body thou the half of thy Soul Or may I not with assurance say that a true Friend hath two Souls in one Body his Own and his Friend 's It was so with Jonathan and David The Soul of Jonathan was knit with the Soul of David and Jonathan lov'd him as his own Soul 1 Sam. 18.1 2. STILL the more Goodness the stronger Union Nature can never so fast

an Annalogical Death a speedy Consumption of all our corrupt and drossy Parts so as the pain must be the more intense by its shortness than in the ordinary course of death Briefly that change is death and our death is a change as Job stiles it Job 14.14 The difference is not in the pain but in the speed of the T●ansaction Fear not then the sentence of Death remember them that have been before thee and that come after for this is the sentence of the Lord over all flesh Ecclus. 41.3 11 THOU fearest Death So do not Infants Children or Distracted Persons as the Philosopher observes Why should reason render us more Cowardly than defect of reason doth them Thou fearest that which others wish for O Death how acceptable is thy sentence to the needy and to him whose shrength faileth that is now in the last age and is vexed with all things and to him that despaireth and hath lost patience Ecclus. 41.2 VVherefore is light given saith Job to him that is in misery and life unto the bitter in Soul VVhich long for hid Treasures which rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave Job 3.20 21 22. 12. HOW many invite the violence of Death and if refus'd do as Ignatius threatned he would do to the Lyons force his Assault Death is the same to all The Difference is in the Disposition of the Entertainers could'st thou loost upon Death with their eyes he would be as welcome to thee as to them At least why shouldst thou not labour to have thy heart so wrought upon that this Face of Death which seems lovely and desirable to some may not appear over-terrible to thee 13. THOU art afraid to die Could'st thou have been capable in the Womb of the use of reason thou wouldst have been more afraid of coming into the World than thou art of going out For why should we be more afraid of the better than of the worse Better is the day of death than the day of ones birth saith the Preacher Eccles. 7.2 better every way our birth begins our miseries our death ends them The one enters the best into a wretched World but the other enters the good into a World of Glory Certainly were it not for our infidelity as we came crying into the World so we should go rejoycing out And as some have solemnized their Birth-day with feasting and triumph the Primitive Church hath enjoyned rejoycing upon the Dying day of her Martyrs and Saints 14. THOU abhorrest Death and fleest from it as from a Serpent but dost thou know his sting is gone what harm is there in a sting-less Snake Hast thou not heard of some delicate Dames that have carried 'em in their Bosom for coolness and pleasure of their smoothness The sting of Death is Sin 1 Cor. 15.56 He may hiss and wind about us but cannot prejudice us when that Sting is out Look up O thou believing Soul to thy blessed Saviour who hath pluckt out this sting of Death and happily triumphs over it O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory 1 Cor. 15.55 15. THY Soul and Body old Companions are loth to part It is but forbearing their Society a while they but take leave of other till they meet at the Resurr●●●●on in the mean time they are safe and the better 〈…〉 It is commendable in the Jews otherwis● 〈…〉 Men that they call their Grave 〈…〉 th● House of the Living and when th●y 〈…〉 ●urial of their Neigbours they 〈…〉 ●nd cast it into the Air with those words of the Psalmist 72.16 They shall flourish and put forth as Grass upon the Earth 16. DID we not believe a Resurrection of the one part and a re-uniting of the other we had reason to be daunted with thoughts of a Dissolution But now we have no cause to be dismayed with a little Intermission It was the saying of a Wise Heathen That Death which we so fear and flee from doth but respite Life for a while not take it away The day will come which shall restore us to Light again Settle thy Soul in this assurance and thou canst not be discomfited with a necessary Parting 17. THOU art afraid of Death when thou art weary of thy days labour art thou afraid of rest Hear what thy Saviour who is the Lord of Life esteems of Death Joh. 11.11 Our Friend Lazarus sleepeth and of Jarius his Daughter Matt. 9.24 The Maid is not Dead but Sleepeth Neither useth the Spirit of God any other Language concerning his Servants under the Old Testament Now shall I sleep in the Dust saith holy Job Job 7.21 and of David 2. Sam. 7.12 When thy days be fulfilled thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers nor yet under the New For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.30 18. THE Philosophers were wont to call Sleep the Brother of Death but God says Death is no other than Sleep it self a Sleep sure and sweet When thou liest down at Night to thy Repose thou canst not be certain to awake in the Morning as when thou layest thy self down in Death thou art sure to wake in the Morning of the Resurection Out of this Bodily Sleep thou may'st be startled with some noise of Horror fearful Dreams Tumults or allarms of War but here thou shalt rest quietly in the place of Silence free from all internal and external Disturbances and in the mean time thy Soul shall see none but Visions of Joy and Blessedness 19. BUT oh the sweet and hearty expression of our last rest and the Issue of our happy resuscitation which our holy Apostle hath laid forth for the consolation of his mournful Thessalonians 1 Thess. 4.14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again Even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him So that our belief is Antidote enough against the worst of Death And why are we troubled when we believe Jesus dyed and what a Triumph is this over Death that the same Jesus who dyed rose again And what a comfort is it that the same Jesus who arose shall come again and bring all his with him in Glory And lastly what a strong Cordial is this to all good Hearts that all which die well sleep in Jesus Thou thoughtest perhaps of sleeping in the Bed of the Grave and there indeed is Rest But he tells thee of sleeping in the Bosom of Jesus and there is Immortality and Blessedness O blessed Jesu in thy presence is the fulness of Joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Psal. 16.12 Who would desire to walk in the World when he may sleep in Christ. 20. THOU fearest Death But on what terms doth Death present himself to thee If as an Enemy as the Apostle stiles him 1 Cor. 15.26 The last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death thy unpreparedness will make him dreadful but thy readiness and

Dunghil O that my Grief were throughly weighed and my Calamities laid in the Ballance together For now it would be heavier than the Sand of the Sea Therefore my words are swallowed up for the Arrows of the Almighty are within me the Poyson whereof drinketh up my Spirits The Terrors of God do set themselves in Array against me Job 6.2 3 4. Dost thou not hear the Man after God's own Heart speak of the Voice of his Roaring Psal. 22.1 He that shrunk not from the Bear the Lyon nor Goliah of Gath is now drenching his Bed with his Tears Psal. 6.6 Dost thou not hear the Faithful crying out I am the Man that hath suffered Affliction by the Rod of his Wrath c. Surely against me he is turned he turneth his hand against me all the day my Flesh and my Skin hath he made old he hath broken my Bones Lam. 3.1 3 4. Consider the Prophets Apostles and Martyrs the great Favourites of Heaven some on Gridirons others in Boyling Caldrons some on Spits others under Saws some in Flames others crashed with the Teeth of Wild Beasts some on Racks others in Fiery Furnaces Most of 'em in such Torments as in comparison thy Pains are but a Sport But to leave Mortality and sinful Dust and Ashes thou may'st behold the Son of God and Lord of Life the King of Glory God blessed for ever sweating drops of Blood in his dreadful Agony and mayst hear him cry upon the Tree of Curse and Shame My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth. 27.46 Alas What are we capable to suffer in proportion of these Tortures What are we that we should think much to share with the best of God's Saints nay even with the dear and eternal Son of his Love our ever blessed Redeemer Had not God prescribed this their way to Heaven they had not waded so deep in Blood 10. WHY do we repine to wet our feet where they waded If from these Holy Ones we turn our Eyes we shall find Examples among meer Pagans For instance He who we used to account infamous for Voluptuousness Epicurus the Philosopher who on his Dying-day when he lay extreamly tormented with the Stone in the Bladder and a tearing Cholick in his Bowels as it were grasping for Life yet even then writing to his Idemeneus can out of the strength of his Resolutions profess his Cheerfulness and can stile even that day Blessed It was the same Mouth that could boast that if he were frying in the Brazen Bull of ●alaris he could there find Contentment What should I tell thee of a Mutius Scaevola who in a Glorious Revenge voluntarily burnt off his Right Hand not without the Envy and Pity of his Enemies or of a Regulus that after so high a Provocation offers himself to the worst of the merciless Fury of his Tormenters Why shouldst thou admire saith wise Seneca that some should be well pleased to be Scorch'd Wounded Rack'd or Kill'd Frugality is a pain to the Riotous Labour a punishment to the Lazy Continence a misery to the Wanton and Study a torture to the Slo●hful 11. ALL these are not in their own Nature difficult but we are infirm and inconstant Shall Pagans attain to this height of Magnanimity by their Fortitude And shall we Christians droop under gentler Sufferings We profess the advantage of Faith to uphold and chear us But poor Ethni●k Souls they never heard of a Merciful God to Comfort 'em They never knew those sweet Messages from Heaven Call upon me in the day of Trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt Glorifie me Psal. 50.15 Come unto me all ye that Labour and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest Matth. 11.28 Strengthen ye the weak Hands and confirm the feeble Knees Say to them that are of a fearful Heart Be strong fear not behold your God will come with Vengeance even God with a Recompence He will come and save you Isa. 35.3 4. They had not the Heart of a Job to say I know that my Redeemer liveth Job 19.25 Nor the Eyes of a Stephen to pierce the Heavens to see their Saviour standing at the Right hand of God But out of their Vigour elevated with an arrogant Ambition of that Fame which they believed would survive 'em Whereas we Christians know that we have the Father of Mercies to stand by us a Redeemer to deliver us a Comforter to strengthen and refresh us sweet and infallible Promises to sustain us And at last a Crown of Eternal Glory to reward us 12. THOU art pained with Sickness View not what thou feelest but think what Punishment thou hast deserved Wherefore doth a living Man complain a Man for the punishment of his Sin Lam. 3.39 Alas the Wages of every Sin is Death a Death of Body and Soul Temporal and Eternal Any thing below this is Mercy There is not the least of thy Transgressions but hath merited the infinite wrath of a just God and more Torments than thou art able to undergo What dost thou complain of Ease Where thou owest a thousand Talents thou art bid to Take thy Bill and write down Fifty Luke 16.6 Wilt thou not magnifie the Clemency of so favourable a Creditor Surely were every Twig which creates a Smart a Scorpion and every Breath thou sendest forth a Flame This were yet less than thy Deserts Oh the infinite goodness of our Indulgent Father that uses so gentle a Correction to us Tell me thou nice Patient if thou canst not suffer these Stripes how thou wilt endure those that are infinitely sharper Alas What are these Trifles to that Hell which abides for the Impatient There are Torments without Mitigation eternal Pains without Intermission which thou can'st not suffer nor avoid Fear them and murmur not at these prostrate thy self low under the hand of God and be thankful for a tolerable Misery How graciously hath the Wisdom of God thought fit to temper our Afflictions if they prove sharp they are not long and if long not over sharp that our Strength might not be depressed by those Trials we undergo Therefore aspire a Contentment in thy self and thy Languishment will be easie or thy Pain soon over Extream and Everlasting are Terrors reserv'd for the Wicked hereafter that are durable painful and not capable of any Relaxation What a Moment is it that thou dost suffer Yea nothing in respect of Eternity which thou must either hope for or fear Endure a while patiently that thou mayst not be infinitely Miserable 13. THOU complainest of Pain Of what use were thy Patience if that were mitigated God never gives Vertues without an intent of their Exercise To what end were our Christian Valour if we had no Enemy to Encounter Thus long thou hast supinely slept in a secure Garison where thou hast heard no Trumpet but thine own and hast turned thy Drum-head into a Table for Dice lavishing out thy days in varieties of idle Recreations Now God draws thee