Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	body_n	soul_n	unite_v	6,137	5	9.8589	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78452	The innocent lord; or, The divine providence. Being the incomparable history of Joseph. / Written originally in French, and illustrated by the unparallel'd pen of the learned De Ceriziers, almoner to my lord the Kings brother. And now rendred into English by Sir William Lowre Knight.; Joseph, ou la Providence divine. English	Cerisiers, René de, 1609-1662.; Lower, William, Sir, 1600?-1662.	1654 (1654)	Wing C1681; Thomason E1480_3; ESTC R208739	71,959	184

you owe to your good father and if you owe any thing unto her from whom you derive your birth know that I transferre all the right thereof unto him to the end to augment your respects and your services You have a great number of brothers let love tye you more unto them then nature and let the honour which you beare them be a mark of your good will Never give their actions an ill interpretation and if any one of yours displease them endevour to amend it Keep alwayes your spirit prepared for injuries which you may receive perhaps this advice of mine is not unseasonable Having so perfect a resemblance with your father I fear that you should resemble him also in this The affliction of the younger brothers is one of the inheritances of your house the son of Hagar could not endure the son of Sarah Esau persecuted your father in the belly of Rebecca take heed that the same happen not unto you but if God permit it think that your affliction shall be rather a testimony of his love then an effect of his hate Adieu my dear sonne and retain the last words of your poor mother There is nothing more true then this opinion which will that an innocent life ends alwayes with an happy death Rahel had scarce ended the last word of those which shee left to her son but she ceased to live with so much constancy that it was easie to judge that the fairest face of the world feared not that which is esteemed the most ugly But certainly if her courage shewed the contempt of her death the tears of her friends witnessed enough how precious her life was to them The poor Joseph who had received the soul of his mother upon his lips remained long time in a sound upon her body and as their embracements had straitly united them one would have believed that death not able neither to separate them nor chuse them had not offended the mother without hurting the son O how happy had he been if that death had dured more then a quarter of an hower since he must not live longer but to suffer nor suffer but to instruct himself from the experience of his meaner evils how he should prepare himself for the miseries of slavery Let us not engage us in the regrets of this desolate family the silence of great griefs makes them better comprehended then the Discourse that one endevours to make thereof the eloquence of a few sighs is stronger then that of many words Jacob had never so much trouble as to leave that which rested to him of his dear wife notwithstanding he must quit it and receive for consolation the confidence to be more aided by her intercession then by her presence And then being perfectly submitted to the will of Heaven he consented that it should enrich it self with the most precious of his losses and that it should encrease its felicities with his miseries These considerations and time having given some comfort to his grief he continued his way towards Hebron where he was no sooner arrived but the good Isaak ran to meet him if to goe so fast as one can may be said to run What pen is capable to describe the caresses which were sweet enough to leave no more bitternesse in the heart of Jacob and to blot out the remembrance of 20. years travels All the children of this holy Patriarch participated of this encounter but Joseph took the greatest part thereof there was not one of them that admired not the Majesty of that Venerable old man who had never been so if the Angel had permitted him to obey entirely and if God had not loved him better for offering then for victime Some days being passed away in feasts and rejoycings every one resumed the cares of good Husbandry Isaak was very glad to see that idlenesse never found his nephewes at leisure and that their diligence received not such soft temptations as those of sloth but his joy was perfect when he observed in Joseph that couragious vertue which had almost made him the Martyr of Abraham though Abraham should not be the Tyrant of Isaak and to say true it was a thing very considerable to see with what attention this little innocent studied the desires of his parents and how carefull he was to know their inclination Oftentimes his obedience prevented their command for fear they might have the trouble to speak and hee the blame to know their will without accomplishing it The difficulty rendred his obedience more ready and if he found excuses it was to cover the imperfection of another and not to flatter his negligence All those that saw him without envy saw him with love The father who had long time dissembled his contentment resolved to give him testimonies thereof and to make them appear with more lustre he caused a melley coat to be made him where the blue the carnation the white and the other colours were so perfectly mingled that every one could judge that art hath those beauties which surpass the natural Infancy pleaseth it self more with that which shineth then with that which profiteth Our young man held yet of that age so ware he not this coat but with the sallies of an innocent joy but too simple poor child you know not that to cover you with this coat was to charge you with the hatred of your brethren and that the love of your father should be the chief cause of your misfortunes This favour was so grievous to the eyes of the other children of Jacob that they could not long dissemble their displeasure Nothing was heard but plaints and murmures in their house some of them were bold enough to say that he loved this minion like a Legitimate and his eldest like Bastards it was not hard to fore-see the evil consequence which so many ill words promised Isaak blinde as he was saw it well and to bring some sweet remedy to this evil he was of opinion that Joseph should withdraw himself for some days from the presence of his brethren this counsel was thought good and the means to execute it easie It was supposed that the children of Bilhah and of Zilpah would suffer Josoph more willingly then those of Leah who knew too well the advantages of their birth Behold him then made a Shepherd as well as his brethren the innocence of this life gave him such perfect joyes that he would scarce change his sheep-hook for a Kings Scepter The sense of these delights made him believe that he had not lived until then and that to amuse him in his fathers house they had made him to see the pictures of that which he had before his eyes in the fields The Meadowes produced him not more flowers then pleasures it was from thence that he took occasion to admire the rare perfections of God and to say unto him in the excesses of his devotion Oh my God how fair art thou since that a little Tract of

of the courage of Joseph to believe that the persecution of his brothers or the ambition of greatnesse had conducted him into Egypt The onely necessity to nourish his Father whom the Providence of God had rendred poor obliged him to quit the land of Promise I adore that Providence which hath charged me with the same duty and I conjure it if it be for my good and its glory to clear the truth thereof I abandon without trouble my fortune to a goodnesse to which I referre willingly the cares of my salvation Saint Paul permits the wise to judge of all things I have no mind to limit their power What severity soever they use in my behalf I respect their judgement without distrusting their justice For those who have not received the same Authority of the Apostle and of their prudence I as little seek their approbation as I fear their censure Thanks unto God all those that judge are not of the Parliament one may mock at their prate if they cannot defend it As I despise generously the liberty of fools who make themselves arbiters of the most important affairs of the world I reverence with submission the examen of those that resemble thee But if this short Declaration renders me not worthy of thy esteem and that thy curiosity cannot be satisfied from my own testimony addresse thee to the R. R. P. P. Jaquinot le Cazre Saint Mary Marquenat Dagonel and Ricueil I assure me that thou wilt understand from them that I have done without crime what I think I ought to doe in conscience I have received too much honour in their company to fly it I have lived innocently enough to abide there my departure is the tyranny of an indispensable necessity and not the humour of a ridiculous inconstancy But if I have not found in Religion a succour which I seek in the world assure thy self that some other reason then my defects hath hindred the effect of the most ardent of my desires After the suffrage of these great men which I have observed because they have examined my change I assure me that no body will condemn it but those who have neither the interests of Fathers or Mothers nor the sense of true children My dear Reader attend the rest of my Apology from that which remains of my life the honour which I shall endeavour to conserve me amongst good men shall lay the foundation of all the praise that I pretend from thy good will I tell thee this because I desire to keep me in thy memory protesting that I should be very sorry that my style should please thee if my conduct might displease thee JOSEPH OR THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE NEver saw Egypt a fairer day then that which began the glory of Joseph the Heaven communicated new lights to illustrate the apparel of his triumph and the Earth seemed to paint her self to appear beauteous to the eyes of this new God The trumpets made so pleasing a noise that all the houses became so many Eccho's to repeat it The tapestries were no more the ornament of the walls but the litter of the horses which trampled upon indifferently both the purple and the silk it would be hard to finde all the Mines of Gold which shone in the streets of that proud City the pearles and diamonds passed for common stones What need I say that the Heroes and souldiers were cloathed with cloth of gold and cloth of silver the beasts of charge and Elephants being covered therewith would not leave that advantage unto man the Princes of the Court were so glorious and so proudly adorned that without appearance of deceit they might have been taken for Kings One would have thought that the Ladies had borrowed other visages then their ordinary ones all was changed whilest our slave led the heart of Pharoah in triumph This spectacle had nothing in it of low as no body had mean extasies But perhaps the glory of so magnifick a pomp rather wearies your eyes then recreates them and to consider longer these marvels would but augment your trouble The Sun is alwayes fair notwithstanding one hath oftentimes more pleasure to see him rise on the top of a mountain then to admire him in his Meridian because his first raies suffer themselves to be look'd upon whereas it seems that that great excesse of light with which he is gloriously encompassed is but to hide him from our eyes or to punish our curiosity Perhaps the Infancy of our Patriarch will please you no lesse then his perfect age and his first vertues then his full perfection and as there is an all-particular Providence that made him passe from contempt unto glory so I would fain make him appear miserable at first to the end that you may consider him with more pleasure in the happinesse of his fortune It was in the fourteenth year of Jacobs service that Rachel was mother of another child then that of her servant Bilhah and saw her sel● payed for all her prayers wherewith she importuned Heaven This childe-bed made her more happy though lesse fruitful then her sister forasmuch as shee possessed more in this onely son then Leah had in all hers If the benefits of Grace surpassed not infinitely those of nature it would be hard to judge which of the two had been more liberal to him and without doing wrong to the one or the other it might have been said that he had all the vertues of his father and the beauty of his mother So many graces perfectionated his body that all which could have been wish'd him was no more the object of a reasonable desire Oftentimes the neighbours would come unto the house of Laban to see onely his visage which dissipated the blackest sorrowes and to carry unto their house the contentment which they fonnd in his company That which most powerfully ravisheth hearts hath a lustre more glorious then that of the colour and is fixed to something more noble then the body An Ancient saith that beauty is the facility of the eyes though to speak properly it is ordinarily but the ruine of souls or at best but the perfection of women Our little Infant had other attractions since he possessed that beauty which is not beloved but of pure souls and of him who glories to be the Spouse of them It is true that his age seemed not yet to be that of vertue notwithstanding it appeared so visibly on his visage and in all his actions that one might think it was a part of that spirit which animated them or if it were any thing separate that it was rather born with him then gotten by the custome of practising it above all there was seen so rare a modesty in him that all his companions could correct themselves by his example and regulate themselves by his conduct It was she that opened and that shut his eyes it was shee that made him speak by civility and be silent by discretion it was she that counted his

paces and that compos'd his countenance it was she that governed him so absolutely that he never offended the meanest of the servants not so much as with one word spoken in contempt or escaped by precipitation this good quality rendred him amiable unto men and his piety unto God Never rose he or went to bed but he made his little devotions and though he could scarce pronounce the name of God he adored the Majesty of him It was a pleasure which drew tears of joy from his father and mother to see him pray with so good a grace and to speak truth even those who had no interest in his good inclinations would be troubled not to please him Who could behold without ravishment a childe of five or six years to adore God with an affection so instant and recollected as if he had had no imagination or that his imagination had been determined to this onely action To see him on his knees his hands joyned his eyes halfe shut one would have thought that it was a statue of marble if those lips had not given some motion to his prayer or an Angel if he had not sighed sometimes I speak not of the reverence with which he honoured his parents the belief thereof is easie through the sweetness that rendred him pleasing to all the world One might produce many proofs thereof but it sufficeth me to assure that there was no choler so kindled nor rage so fierce that would not be changed in his presence Jacob knew it well this good Patriarch vexed with sorrowes which for twenty years had not suffered him to breath besides believing to have bought two wives and some sheep too dear resolved to take his leave since that his father in law refused him Behold then this holy man constrained to cover himself with the same darkness that Thieves and Robbers hide themselves under hee departed in the night with his Train for fear the brightnesse of the day might publish that which he would keep secret I leave that which arrived during this flight to Laban as not belonging to my subject this man which was to wrestle with God feared the encounter of a brother whom his vertues had made an enemy to him His former menaces that fury which rendred him more savage then a Bear the hair with which he was covered gave him more fear of his hate then blood and nature assurance of his love Notwithstanding chusing rather to hazard once his life then to lead it alwayes in so painful labours he fixed himself to his first design from which all the considerations that he had could not divert him After having thought of the means of his reconciliation the cruelty of Esau seemed not unto him an invincible passion That thought which hee approved most of all upon this subject was to divide his Train into two Bands and to send them successively to the encounter of his brother but the secret of the Artifice was to put Joseph and his mother in the last to the end that their beauty mingled with the sweetnesse of so pitifull a spectacle might change the heart of this barbarous man if the massacre of those that preceded it nor the consideration of blood had not stopped his fury I know not what Magick an innocent beauty useth but we see the effects as admirable as the causes thereof are secret and little known how many times have we seen Tyrants become Idolaters of those whom they persecuted and take the subject of their love from whence they drew the motive of their hate The Tigers themselves and the Panthers have they not quitted their nature to take sweeter sentiments then is necessary to devour innocents The Lions and the Leopards have rendred them homage humbling their cruelty before those whom they thought to devour they have adored their victime and their prey the artifice of Jacob was not then evil since hee endevoured to take his brother by that which gained the most savage beasts Notwithstanding God disposed thereof otherwise and because he would not divide with any one the acknowledgement of that benefit he would that he should owe all the obligation thereof to his goodnesse Esau becomes man and receives him with caresses who expected nought from him but persecutions It was at the sight of this happy Canaan that Jacob seemed to live another life then that which he led in Mesopotomia and though two great Rivers give it its name and fecundity that land notwithstanding appeared unto him more faire and more fertile then that where appeared the first Paradise of man The joy to have no more Esau the hope to embrace the good Isaak gave so sweet sallies to his heart that hee thought he should have need of some misfortune to moderate his joy Whilest that they travelled towards Hebron they perceived a little Town situated on the browe of an Hill which defended it from the North. Our Patriarch no sooner saw it but he commanded all his people to put themselves on their knees which he first did himself to give them example of obedience This command could not be without reason coming from so wise a man Notwithstanding Rahel took the liberty to ask it him which obliged him to tell them that it was the place where the Messias should take birth and begin that which God onely could finish Alas how difficult is it for prosperity to last long and how hard to finde a happinesse constant out of that residence which is to be eternal Jacob began to be no more miserable when the most sensible of all his afflictions arrived unto him it was the death of his poor Rahel who could not give life to her Benoni without losing it her self I leave the regrets and the tears which followed her death but I cannot passe in silence an action that preceded it since it touched Joseph His good mother seeing that her life would henceforth advantage him nothing desired that the last moments thereof should be useful unto him Having then caused him to come to her shee leaned upon his bosome and moistening his visage with her tears she spake unto him in this manner My son I cannot die without bidding you adieu and wishing you a blessing which I beseech the will of Heaven to accomplish I am in a condition where interest makes no body speak therefore if I leave you any advice I suppose you will not believe that any consideration of mine comes to mingle therein I have alwayes as much loved your vertue and good inclinations as your person it is therefore I desire you but so much life as they shall last It is not the fear of your inconstancy that makes me speak in this manner but the ardent desire which I have of your perfection Make then your vertue to grow with your age and never think to have enough of those goods whose abundance can make no excesse Let the service of our great God bee your principal occupation be never wanting to the respect which