Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	affection_n	heart_n	soul_n	1,196	5	4.7627	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35042	A defense against the dread of death, or, Zach. Crofton's meditations and soliloquies concerning the stroak of death sounded in his ears in the time of his close imprisonment in the Tower of London, anno 1661 and 1662 : digested for his own private staisfaction and support in the vale of the shadow of death, and now made publique for the advantage of such as abide under Gods present visitation in London by the pestilence.	Crofton, Zachary, 1625 or 6-1672.	1665 (1665)	Wing C6992; ESTC R24795	57,690	178

Preacher against the King was not Michaiah carged by the King to be one that bare ill will to the King was not this the very lot of Christ himself suffered not that righteous one as a Blasphemer and as an enemy to Caesar shall I be deterred from following my Master from drinking of the cup whereof my deer redeemer hath begun from travelling in the beaten road of all Gods Prophets the very way prescribed by the Lord himself hath not the Lord Christ declared humane rage and reproach to attend all who faithfully reveal his will and mens sins is not unjust reproach in my death part of Christs cross and my Crown why then do I dread and decline it if I be reproached for the name of Christ I am happy 1 Pet. 4.14 the spirit of glory and of Christ resteth on me It is the cause not the pain maketh the Martyr or Malefactor my soul be not troubled at the kind or clamoured cause of my death were I indeed really guilty did I receive the due reward of my sin I must then have laid my mouth in the dust confessed my sin given glory to God accepted the punishment of mine iniquitie and by an humble act of faith applied the blood of Christ to my soul then I might rest assured that I was condemned in and by the world that I might not be judged of the Lord. But whilst if I dye as I now dread I dye innocently for a good conscience and for the Testimony of the truth Let me rejoyce that God hath accounted me worthy to be reputed the off-scowring of this world and enemy of mankind for my judgement is of the Lord who judgeth most righteous judgement and though my brethren cast me out Isa 66.5 and cry Let the Lord be glorified yet he will appear to my joy and they shall be ashamed when Jesus Christ shall come to judge clear and crown me as his Martyr it shall not repent me that men condemned and cut me off as a Malefactor SECT VII IN death I shall feel pain Death is painful but puts an end to pain It is like I may yet God can make it easie I feel more pain in the precursors then I can feel in the stroak of death the pain and extremity of a killing disease is often and ordinarily more then the pain of death it is usually such as maketh life a burden and death defireable how many in the burnings of a Feavor a fit of the Stone or Collique have wished for death to ease them of their pain my fear of pain in death is much greater then what I shall feel in the stroak thereof the pomp and passage unto death doth and will more perplex my soul then the pain thereof can possibly pinch my sence but suppose the worst yet The greatest pains of death are tolerable and pass away in a moment with how much ease did the Lord Jesus give up the Ghost in that dying act the dreadful expectation of which made him sweat blood and water how many of the Martyrs have with most calm and composed spirits lien under the most cruel and exquisite torments and as Lambs before the Shearer breathed out their last breath in the greatest pains of death that envy could devise or enraged malice could inflict Haukes that holy Martyr in our Marian Persecution in the midst of the flames did not forget to lift up his hands towards Heaven before he gave up the Ghost as a token to his Friends that the raging pain of that siery death was tolerable All Gods Saints have lien on this rack and sitten down on this little ease and shall I give back because of a little tolerable pain Be the pains of death never so peircing sharp and intolerable yet they are short soon pass away and are the Period of all pain in respect of this nature hath conceived and Scripture hath expresly concluded Eccles 7.2 better is the day of a mans death then the day of his birth all my life hath been nothing else but sorrow and pain my days have hitherto passed in anguish affliction and anxiety yea my resting time place and state hath scared me with Dreams Job ● 13 14. and terrified me with Visions in the night so that strangling death any kind of death hath been more desireable then life Shall I now fear that one stroak which though it cut me to the heart will at once cut off all my pain and greif doth not nature teach men to chuse the pain of cutting off an Arm or Leg rather then to lye continually under a festring burning and incurable wound Plotinus the Philosopher accounted mens mortallity Gods special mercy as the expiration of their misery Cato Major that wise Roman reflecting the pains he had endured professed if he might be rendred young again and renew his age he would not desire it he would refuse it Did the pain of life take away the pain of death to Heathens and shall it not much more do so unto Christians who have other and better hopes of future happiness then they ever knew or expected My soul stir up thy self make out a little faith and patience to endure this one pinch and stroak of pain which shall presently cease and be the period of all thy misery the cure of all thy maladies and will heal thee of all thy fears griefs cares diseases and distempers the afflictions of my body and anguish of my mind though I walk through the vale of the shadow of death I will fear none ill for Lord thou art with me be with me O my God that I may not over-passionately fear that little short pain I must feel make thou a lively faith in me to bear up under prevail against and triumph over a lively sence that so my last little pain being past I may possess eternal health and ease and therein rejoyce for that although the stroak of death did for present cut it did for ever cure my soul SECT VIII DEath will deprive me of all sensible pleasure it will so Death depriveth of pleasures but they are sensible and it is no matter for this pleasure was at best but sensible my soul found no pleasure in it nor did it satisfie my very sences these were tired in the possession and use of these Eccles 1.8 The eye is not satisfied in seeing nor the ear in hearing The necessary novelty is an undeniable evidence of the vanity of these delights Sinful It were well if I could say these pleasures were only sensible my soul hath on woful experience found them the pleasures of sin Heb. 11.25 not onely the reward but also the cause of sin I never could possess them without sin I have in this respect paid full dear for all the pleasures I have enjoyed under the sun they have stoln too much of mine heart and affections they have eaten into and eaten up too much of my precious time they have

dulled my sences stupified my soul and discomposed me unto the duties of holiness they have been baits and snares whereby I have been entised unto and entangled in sin they have diverted my soul from seeking and solacing it self in more serious and satisfying delights the sinfulness of my pleasure hath eaten out the sweetness of my pleasure These pleasures of sin are but for a season are often changing Short and do soon vanish will certainly expire cannot endure for ever and leave bitterness behind them when they go away they have cost me more smart and greif when they have been ended then they did afford me joy or content whilst they continued I may willingly dismiss those pleasures which I have bought at so dear a rate possess so uncertainly and for so short a season and proved so vain empty and dissatisfactory My Soul Let me chearfully contentedly cease from my pleasure among the living on earth whilst I shall therein cease from the sinning and sorrowing necessarily attendant on and inseparably annexed unto my pleasures and yet consider all joy is not at an end with me when I die Joy succeedeth and yet remaineth I pass not from all pleasure when parted from these I onely leave what is sensible and sinful but death shall transmit my soul into Gods presence in which are rivers of pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 can I think the fulness of lasting joys solacing my soul in the sight of God will not compensate my loss of the sensible pleasures of sin which are but for a season did these cast the scales of Moses judgement and affections in his time of life Heb. 11.25 26 27. youth and strength causing him to despise the Crown and glory of Egypt and to chuse affliction with the people of God rather then to be called the son of Pharoah's Daughter And shall not the sence and expectation thereof make me content to leave the delights which I cannot longer enjoy It was my duty to have refused them sooner I may well be content to relinquish them now I can enjoy them no longer My soul yeild unto rejoyce in and bless God for that necessity which doth enforce thy duty and willingly leave those pleasures which would have left thee in bitterness if thou should longer abide in the body the onely subject capable of these sensible pleasures SECT IX DEath will deprive me of all my outward comforts Death doth deprive me of outwardcomforts which I have long enjoyed to supply my necessity goods and possessions in the world Wife Children and Servants which ministred to me Be it so it is Gods mercy I have enjoyed them for so long a time I am in the possession of them a tenant at Gods will he doth not the least wrong to take them from me so kind hath God been to me he hath let me possess them whilst they could do me good and I had need of them when I am dead they connot minister to me I shall have neither need nor use of any or all these comforts I may well be content to leave what I shall not lack what I cannot use it is I confess a mercy to have them but it speaketh imperfection to have need of them is it not much better to be in an estate of perfection without them then to have these comforts to me continued and my self abide imperfect Death doth deprive me of some comforts Such as content not nor continue but they are such which afford no true content nor are they of any continuance they are though the best things under the sun yet at the best they are but things under the sun Eccl. 1.1 2 and all things under the sun are vanity and vexation of spirit they give a little and indeed but a little content to my sence but not any to my soul they were not obtained without care retained without fear nor will they now be relinquished without greif I cannot deny them to be flowers flowers of beauty and pleasure but I must confess I ever found them fading and full of pricks I have not enjoyed them without vexation and if I live longer I shall ere it be long lose them and have them taken from me they all have the wings of the morning and flye away in a moment I can already say of some what I shall soon say of the rest I had servants trusty and faithful to me but they are gone My means by my ministry I had goods yearly renuing my store but it is taken from me I had Children sweet babes the cheif of natures blessings but my Josephs my Benjamins are not mine outward enjoyments have been to me a Gourde of refreshment and present delight Jon. 4.6 7 but a Jonahs Gourde of vanity in the root of which is a worm which doth and will soon make it wither if I pass not from my present comforts they will peirce my soul with care and fear and at last perish in mine hand I may well be content to die from those comforts which are sure to die from me and leave me in sorrow even in worldly sorrow which worketh death 2 Cor. 7.10 What great difference is it for me to be parted from my comforts or to have my comforts parted from me can any thing but a childish temper make me cry when those pleasing toyes are taken from me which I freely leave when tired with them or which I fling from me with fury when I feel my self hurt by them what cause have I to be thus dismaied to be divided from those comforts which I have thus long enjoy'd to supply my need yet with certain dolor and uncertain durance shall I so foolishly love as not be content to leave what loadeth me with care and fear yet cannot last but will be gone from me if I stay longer in this world Death taketh me from my outward comforts but yet I leave them to and for the comfort of my relations and friends which stay behind me they will have the use of them they will do them good though I leave them they are not lost my turn is served by them shall I grudge that others have them to serve their turn as they served mine hath it not been my care to get goods that I might leave them to my Relations and shall I now be unwilling to leave them that little which I have gotten and which can now do me no more good Though death deprive me of some useless moveables yet it leaveth me my most precious jewels and chiefest substance the graces of my soul the glorious priviledges of my faith death cannot touch or take from me and these are more worth then all the world My soul play the Merchant be content to see thy luggage and empty cask cast overboard to save thy choice commodities and thy pearls of price death may take me from riches it cannot touch my righteousness it may anticipate my pompous Funeral but