Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	work_n	world_n	worth_n	41	3	8.1154	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52343	Of adoration in spirit and truth written in IV. bookes by Iohn Eusebius Nieremberg native of Madrid. S.I. And translated into English by R. S S.I. In which is disclosed the pith & marrow of a spiritual life, of Christs imitation & mystical theology; extracted out of the HH. FF. & greatest masters of spirit Diadochus, Dorotheus, Clymachus, Rusbrochius Suso, Thaulerus, a Kempis, Gerson: & not a little both pious & effectual is superadded.; De adoratione in spiritu et veritate. English.	Nieremberg, Juan Eusebio, 1595-1658.; Strange, Richard, 1611-1682.	1673 (1673)	Wing N1150A; ESTC R224195	255,001	517

all the cagernes of our hart and spirit but prefer a momentary pleasure before the grand affaire of eternity What is it that we are so ambitious off unles we be very greedy of glory what hunt we so earnestly after one moment sufficeth for the purchase of eternity If the largest extent of the earth be but a point in respect of heaven which is limitable what will the narrow bounded life of man be in regard of an unlimited eternity and is it possible that time can be spard from the pursuit and attainment of glory if having exposd a full exchequer of gold God should say to some needy beggar thou art yet to live a thousand yeares and shalt have nothing to sustain thy want for so long a respit of time but what thou canst carry out of this treasury in the space of an hour would he thinkst thou play the trewant in that short interim or spend that remnant in play or sleep why do we not bestir our selves an eternity expects us nor can we lay up provision for it but in the short interstice of this life why do we interrupt so laudable a commerce and sit still with our hands in our pockets a thousand yeares carry les proportion to an eternity then a moment to a thousand yeares what then wil ten or twenty yeares the utmost tearm of thy life be in regard of an endles duration why ceasest thou from doing good life flyes from thee death runs towards thee eternity stands still and thou nevertheles art slow in coffering up eternal riches What a tedious journey under took the queen of Saba for no other end but to enjoy the sight of Salomon her intention aymed not at any long stay but to return presently to her country many come from remote lands to behold a man whom fame hath cryed up for some rare talents of wit or art with how much more reason ought we be content to employ before hand prolix endeavours to be able but once to contemplate God in the height of his majesty if permission were given to all of making our journey to heaven on foot and nothing else were prerequired but only a pilgrimage of a thousand yeares no body I believe would decline the enterprize Thy journey thither is much more compendious thou needst not lift thy foot over thy threshold nor out of thy bed and why dare we not aspire with all our might to compass a good which is so nigh us the sole lustre of gold or flashings of a gem are able to make men brook the roughnes and danger of the seas and the clarity of God strikes us no more then if we were insensible neyther do we prize an invaluable good at so much as the value of a little labour But what do I insist upon eternity although glory were not eternal but momentary yet it is a good so boundlesly great that an eternity of suffering should not be deemd too much to purchase it but for a moment we beholding God intuitively in that instant O how exquisite must that needs be which God hath provided for his friends if he prepared and gave himself to be crucifyed even for his very enemyes how exquisite must that needs be which cost God so dear for which he was at so great expense at no les then his life auctority passion and omnipotency If Gods manufactures as the heavens the motions of the stars the nature of beasts orderd onely for the use of man be to us such an object of admiration what will that be which he exhibits to the ostentation of his majesty if we admire the artifice of an eye though in a loathsome creature or carriage-beast what wil that be which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can enter into the hart of man if he hath made the fabrick of this world which is but the cottage of miserable Adam a bridewel of sinners acave of brute beasts of such an admirable structure that heathens at its contemplation were rapt into extasy what shal we think of his own royal Pallace as much as a nasty stable falls short of the court of some great Monarch which is adornd with guilded roofs paved with pretious stones hung with most rich tapistry yea as much as the magnificence of the heavens exceeds the horrour of a stinking prison so much far more must thou imagin the dwelling place of the blessed to surpass the beauty of this universe which respectively will be found but an object of loathsomenes All the comelines of this world falls so far short of the seat of the blessed that all this artifice which the Philosophers admired with so much astonishment is in respect of it but an eye sore and blemish of deformity If heaven and nature which God provided as it were by the by and with as much ease as one can speak be so ravishing what wil that be which he hath from all eternity on set purpose prepared for those that make him their love In the guifts of nature God carried himself master-like he made them all with a commanding word but in his glory he resembles an industrious servant passing to and fro seeking as it were to give content If the beauty of this visible world where he was not so sollicitous to please be so winning and enamouring how much more pleasing wil he be in that where he made it his task study to please The whole machin of the world was no more chargable to him then the expense of one voyce he made it with a word but glory made him as it were set his wits on work and as obsequious as a servant yea most patiently to brook disgraces torments and death it self If thou shouldst bestow a hundred yeares in speculating the greatnes of glory shouldst frame some high conceit of its worth thou mightst wel deem all to be nothing and thy conceptions to fall so far short of comprehending it that thou canst not so much as conjecture thy self to have come nigh it But in that imperfect idea which thou hast conceived rayse thy self to the gates of heaven beholding it open take as clear and exact a view of it as thou canst that being done cast thy eyes upon the earth and what is remarkable in its rarities compare then the goods of both together and see whether earthly things wil abide the test Wonder then at so many unfortunate endeavours of men in purchasing a little worldly pelf or rather nothing and their trewantly sluggishnes in seeking after the true good Contemplate thence from the top of the stars the frustrated labours of mortals and their certain hazards in obtaining an uncertain good and do thou hear thy soveraign inviting thee in such like words come enter into possession of my kingdom heavenly treasures This is a most certain guift seald with no les a promise then that of divine faith and recommended to us by the diligence and death of Christ heaven having so voted

wil alwayes be with us himself What mother loves her child so tēderly as that she wil continually have him in her armes Yet God doth this Grace is a knot which tyes God and man together it is the sweet and mutual embracement of the spirit divine and humane Among men the father may not be where the Son is but God cannot but be with him that is in grace Although God be existent in creatures both by his essence presence and power this is so because he is God and it cannot be otherwise not for any dignity or desert in them but by reason of his immensity and infinitude But grace not nature hath this attractivenes that although God could be absent and were limitable to locality yet it would make him present and existent with one in grace residing with him and becoming one spirit yea albeit he could forget his creatures he would be alwaies sweetly present to his memory share of his providence although he could relinquish them and not operate in them nor conserve maintain them yet he would stil be working some good in the just for as love is effectual so it never intends any good but it compleats it What a benefit and dignity is it to have God alwaies for our companion certainly we should be struck with amazement to see any creature so beloved by God and so noble that he commanded his celestial spirits those thousands of thousands that attend him to accompany it whether soever it went and be followd by all that traine so stately and majestical yet this would be but solitude in comparison of the fellowship and attendance of God What are all things before thee o lord but as it were a mere nothing and vacuity If we should admire such a creature why do we not also admire a sould in grace since it hath God for its attendance not waiting at its elbow but as it were in its essence enlivening it O most fortunate dignity of man and dignation of God to have that highest Majesty alwaies accompanying the Sons of men for God will not be a lazy and unprofitable companion to a soul not providing what is beho offul to it Wil he be like one that is sluggish or blind who neither sees nor resents the necessities and miseries which press it certainly God doth not associate himself to the just for nothing They may wel neglect both themselves and their temporal if only they be careful of what concerns him he wil have a care of them O my Father o friend o companion I beg of thy Majesty that I may alwaies carry a due reverence fidelity and affability towards thee I wil demean my self to thee as a child doth to his parent taking all thy affaires to hart reputing them my own not otherwise then towardly children are industriously careful of their parents busines because they look upon it as their own I beseech thee that I may be a faithful friend to thee seeking at all turnes thy greater honour glory advancing what concerns thee loving thee more then my self Grant that I may keep with thee all the rules of good fellowship least by my continual defects I may contristate thy holy spirit But if all grace be of such vertue and efficacy in it self that it makes us kinsmen and allies of God most dear to him yea in a manner Gods and this because it is given by Christ hence it followes that that portion of it which befals man is more happy more venerable and highlyer priviledgd then that which was bestowd upon the Angels or our first parents in the state of innocency Those children are ordinarily first in their parents affection who were deliverd into the world with the strongest throwes of a hard labour and what wonder then if our grace be dearer to Christ since it cost him so many sorrowes and he for it bestow on us greater priviledges affording us more helps tolerating us more patiently and longanimously raysing us to great spiritual advancement in so much that the very Angels themselves do honour men for this respect that they have grace by Christ are struck with a reverential fear to see our nature now prostrate before them which they sleighted so much before God became Incarnate by assuming it and this because a special dignity accrues to the grace we partake of we being made therby living members of Christ computed the same with him There redounds a certain veneration from the head to the members how can the Angels despise our nature which they admiringly behold exalted above theirs even to the throne of the Divinity and fellowship of God what wonder if they treat us not as their inferiours whome the Son of God the first begotten among many brethren under the title of equals exalted above the celestial spirits themselves calling men his brethren and esteeming them more then Angels He never honored any of the Seraphins so much as to call him brother This is the highest prerogative of grace which renders it so honorable and elevates it above all nature Moreover our nature it self by grace through Christ is dignified and exalted above all other natures for as much as the Lord of glory communicates the same his glory with his joyntly united members and living allyes Our grace also is founded upon the merits of IESVS and his union as if therby it gave us a juster title to merit from God and makes us do it after a perfecter manner For we are all children of sorrow we are Gods Benjamins the Sons of his right hand and dear above all others O most loving father who sacrificd they only begotten Son to death that I becoming thy Son might live grant that I may alwayes have a true esteem and knowledg of this inestimable benefit One Angel is more endebted to thee for the least degree of grace which he received then all creatures together for all the goods of nature and creation of the universe But I a silly wretched man owe thee more for the least particle of grace bestowd upon me then all the Hierachies of Angels for all the supernatural guifts conferrd upon them all together For to the end that I through grace might live a divine life thou wouldst have thy son in humane nature to suffer an unhamane death Thou hast done more for me then for all the Angels thou hast heapd more obligations upon me then upon the Cherubins and Seraphins There are two reasons for which men are obligd to preserve and highly magnify divine grace The one is its inestimable worth and unspeakable dignity the other is thy most pretious blood o IESVS which thou didst shed to merit grace If we be not satisfyd of its value in its self this may throughly convince us that thou wouldst purchase it for us at so deare a rate It must needs be a rare and stupendious thing which God who cannot err in his choise chose rather to give us then save the life of