Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	case_n	estate_n	remainder_n	5,475	5	10.8721	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29240	Times treasury, or, Academy for gentry laying downe excellent grounds, both divine and humane, in relation to sexes of both kindes : for their accomplishment in arguments of discourse, habit, fashion and happy progresse in their spirituall conversation : revised, corrected and inlarged with A ladies love-lecture : and a supplement entituled The turtles triumph : summing up all in an exquisite Character of honour / by R. Brathwait, Esq.	Brathwaite, Richard, 1588?-1673.	1652 (1652)	Wing B4276; ESTC R28531	608,024	537

never dranke a sweeter draught Which implyes what torment he indures who feeles the extremity of thirst The last assailant of Temperance as wee formerly observed was Company-keeping which indeed is such a stealer of time or beguiler of tedious houres as it makes passing of time a meere pastime Yet observe what diligent care hath beene had by making choice of such as I have else-where noted whose society might better them Peruse those Athenian nights in Gellius and you shall find how fruitfully those nights were employed how delightfully passed making discourse of Philosophy that well-consorting melodie which gave generall content to all the Company Besides it is worth our observation to take a view of the speciall care divers Ancients have had of the Company they consorted with having such in as great distaste that were evill as they bore all due reverence to such as were good Wee reade how the Prienean Bias having occasion to saile on a time with some ill-disposed men by reason of a violent tempest the ship wherein they sailed was so shaken as these wicked men moved rather by feare then devotion begun to call upon their gods which Bias hearing Hold your peace quoth hee lest the gods you call upon understand that you be here covertly taxing their impiety and shewing that their prayers would be little acceptable to the gods But an example much more divine and so much deserving our imitation may be here commended to us in the person of the blessed Evangelist S. Iohn who would not come within the Bath where the Hereticke Cerinthus was so much did hee hate the Fellowship of him who to use Augustines words Was no fanne for the Lords floore Thus have we run over those mainest and mightiest assailants of Temperance now let us as wee have illustrated each of them with proper instances of Moderation annex some reasons why these assailants of Temperance ought to be restrained and first for the first Lust the sensuall mans sinne is said to bee a friend which brings man in acquaintance with the Divell as Ebriety is an enemy to the knowledge of God Besides it is a vice detestable both to the brute beast and Barbarian it with-drawes the mind of the creature from meditation of his Creator makes man commit sinne even with greedinesse makes the Image of God companion for a Harlot makes him who should be the Temple of the Holy Ghost a Cage of uncleane birds prostitutes the glory of the soule to the pleasure of sinne and prefers a sensuall delight before the obedience of reason Hee sels his Birth-right for lesse then a messe of pottage exposing his soule to the trafficke of shame Hee values a minutes joy above all future delight yea rather then lose his present content he will suffer an eternity of torment This bleere-eyed Lover is so blinded with affection towards his beloved that hee will rather lose his owne soule then lose that which hee affecteth Thus you see the Lustfull man uncased his blindnesse discovered his sundry weaknesses displayed and the heavy effects which from hence are derived good reason then have you to restraine an affection so over-spreading a motion so mortally wounding a contagion so generally killing Take into your consideration the shortnesse of the pleasure being but a moment the vengeance or punishment due to that pleasure being eternall What wise man having neerely served his apprentiship will for a minutes pleasure forfeit his Indenture and lose his freedome for ever Wee should hold him destitute of common sense who having a Princesse offered him will foolishly lose her for embraces of an Harlot If you will keepe your selves unspotted till the day of his comming you shall bee espoused to a princely Bridegroome and receive Palmes in your hands at his comming Go● not in by the wayes of the strange woman but keepe your beds undefiled knowing the state which you have undertaken to bee honourable before God and man For I in no case will limit you to a monasticke or regular restraint but approve of both estates I meane both the single and married life being undertaken in the feare of God worthy the acceptance of every faithfull Christian. For the Virgins estate as it drawes neerer to angelicall perfection so the Married to the preservation of humane society or propagation So as Saint Augustine might seeme rather to be traduced then truly alleaged for this place Virgins doe more then lawfull as Adulterers lesse for my conceit shall ever be freed from imagining so divine a Father to approve of such an errour for both estates are commended the one good the other better both which titles as they are by the Apostle on these two estates conferred so are they by us to be reverently esteemed Briefly restraine all immoderate desires of the flesh which fight against the spirit so shall you find that inward tranquillity which obedience to your lusts shall never bring you Ambition the second assailant of Temperance is such an high-mounting bird as shee useth to build her nest ever in the tallest Cedars hatching her aeries in the highest spires to expresse her unbounded aymes This passion or distraction rather of all others brings man soonest to a forgetfulnesse of himselfe ever aspiring but never obtaining ever sailing in a tempestuous sea attented by many hostile and piraticall adherents whose aymes are to intercept all peaceable passengers filling the whole state full of mutinies and combustions Pindarus describes him to be such an one who strives to touch the Clouds and cope with Iove himselfe but is aymes draw him on to speedy ruine What reason then is there to foster or cocker such a profest foe to publike and private peace Who is hee having understanding will receive into his barge where hee is a quarrellous turbulent fellow who in desperate fury will not sticke to over-whelme the vessell both of himselfe and the rest that consort him Who is hee that will engage him in perill when hee may in safety enjoy himselfe and be free from danger Who is hee that will desire to climbe when he knowes there is no meanes to save him from falling being got up Surely the Ambitious man is ever environed with perill yet such is his folly hee will rather chuse to incurre danger then lose the present opportunity of acquiring honour Besides they whom this unbounded passion hath once surprized are so much distempered as of sleepe they are quite deprived which disquiet proceeds either from emulation towards others or an ambitious desire of advancement in themselves For the first Themistocles was wont to say that Miltiades victory in Marathon bereaved him of his sleepe For the latter Sylla could never take rest till by the terrour of his legions hee had obtained the law Valeria to be made whereby hee was created Dictator for eight yeares as Caesar the law Servia by which hee was perpetuall Dictator Albeit having obtained what they desired and arrived at the port

concluded in this manner I speake generally no rayment ornament or habit whatsoever shall seeme precious in Christs sight but that which thou makest thy selfe either for thine owne peculiar use or example of other Virgins or to give unto thy grand-mother or thy mother no though thou distri●ute all thy goods unto the poore See how expresly this no●le woman was injoyned to her taske that by intending her selfe to labour shee might give lesse way unto errour Certainely as mans extremity is Gods opportunity so the Divels opportunity is mans security we are then principally to take heed lest wee give way to the incursion of Satan by our security of life and conversation And what is it that begetteth this security but Idlenesse which may be termed and not improperly the Soules Lethargie For nothing can be more opposite to this Actuall Perfection then re● or vacancy wee say vertue consisteth in Action how then may wee be said to be favourers followers or furtherers of vertue when we surcease from Action which is the life light and subsistence of vertue Wherefore as it is little to reade or gather but to understand and to reduce to forme what wee reade gather or understand for this is the ornament of Art the argument of labour so it is little or to no purpose that wee know conceive or apprehend unlesse wee make a fruitfull use of that knowledge by serious practice to the benefit of our selves and others I have knowne divers Physicians some whereof were of great practice but small reading others of great reading but small practice and I have heard sundry men of sufficient judgement confidently averre that in cases of necessity they had rather hazard their lives in the hand of the Practicke then Theoricke and their reason was this though the Practicke had not exercised himselfe in the perusall of bookes hee had gained him experience in the practice of cures and that the body of his patient was the onely booke within his Element To which assertion I will neither assent nor wholly dissent for as he that practiseth before hee know may sooner kill than cure so he who knoweth and seldome or never practiseth must of necessity to get him experience kill before hee cure But sure I am that many ignorant Lay-men whose knowledge was little more then what nature bestowed on them by meanes of regular discipline and powerfull subduing of their owne affections have become absolute men being such as reached to as high a pitch of Actuall Perfection as ever the learned'st or profoundest man in the world attained for it is neither knowledge nor place but the free gift of Gods grace which enableth the spirituall man to this Perfection Now forasmuch as not to goe forward is to goe backward and that there be two Solstices in the Sunnes motion but none in times revolution or in a Christians progression the onely meanes to attaine this Actuall Perfection at least some small measure or degree therein is every night to have our Ephemerides about with us examining our selves what we have done that day how farre wee have profited wherein benefited our spirituall knowledge Againe wherein have we reformed our life or expressed our love to Christ by communicating to the necessity of his Saints By which meanes wee shall in short time observe what remaines unreformed esteeming it the sweetest life every day to better our life But principally are wee to looke to our affections which rise and rage in us and like the Snake in the fable pester and disturbe the inner house of man for these are they which as Saint Basil saith rise up in a drunken man drunke I meane with all spirituall fornication like a swarme of Bees buzzing on every side When the affections of men are troubled they change them like Circes cups from men to beasts Neither is it so ill to bee a beast as for man to live like a beast O then let us have an eye to our affections let them bee planted where they may be duly seasoned Earth makes them destastefull let them be fixed then in heaven the only thought whereof will cause them to be delightfull And to conclude this branch it will not be amisse for us to counterpoize our affections if we find them at any time irregular with weights of contrary nature as if we find our selves naturally affected to Pride that Luciserian sinne to counterpoise it with motives of Humility as the vilenesse of our condition basenesse of our composition and weaknesse of our constitution or naturally inclined to Covetousnesse that Mammons sinne to give though the gift afflict us liberally that our forced bounty may in time weane us from our in-bred misery if of grating oppression or grinding extortion that Ahabs sinne let us make restitution with good Zacheus and though wee cannot doe it so frankly as hee did yet let us doe it as freely as wee may that our restitution may in some sort answer for our former oppression if of excesse in fare and gluttony that Dives sinne let us so moderate our delight in feeding that our delight may be to sustaine Nature and not oppresse her with exceeding if of Lust or sensuality that Ammons sinne where that sinne may abound the Sense is obeyed let us subject all our delights to the government of reason and reason to the soveraignty of grace that the flesh may be resisted in what it most affecteth and in that seconded wherein it least delighteth if of Envie that Serpentine sinne let us entertaine brotherly love for Envie can beare no sway where Love raigneth if of Wrath that Cains sinne embrace Patience so shall Fury bee suppressed where Patience is lodged if of Sloth the Sluggards sinne let us inure our selves to some Exercise that may most delight us so in time wee may become exercised in Taskes of greater difficulty being first from Sloth weaned afterwards to greater labours inured Thus to fight were to vanquish thus to enter lists were to reape spirituall solace for through him should wee triumph who sees us fighting cheers us failing and crownes us conquering And this shall suffice to have beene spoken of the Active part of Perfection purposing according to our former method to compare the Contemplative and Active together the parts or properties of both which being duly examined it shall more plainely appeare how the Active is to be preferred IT is a barren faith wee say that is not attended on by good workes and no lesse fruitlesse is that knowledge which is exercised onely in Contemplation and never in Action Wee are therefore with Elizeus to have a double spirit a spirit that as well doeth as teacheth not onely a profering of words but also an offering of workes So as it is not breathing or moving or talking which argue a spirituall life but abounding plentifully in all holy duties expressing those effectuall and powerfull fruits of a living

shee stands interessed Requisite therefore it were that shee made choyce of some one discreetly ripe both in yeares and inward gifts by whose honest integrity her family might bee better mannaged with more diligence attended and to the woman lesse occasion of disgrace objected For I have knowne very many women who albeit they spent their dayes continually within their owne doores yet have fallen into reproach either by some persons observing them or of their owne families disposed by them for suffering their servants goe abroad too neatly arguing thereby a neglect of their family so as the handmaids pride brought her Mistresse into suspition of contemning her honour Which proceeded as may bee probably gathered from the subtilty of some quick Conceipts imagining that the Maids knowledge of her Mistresse lightnesse to purchase her secrecie and connivence advanc'd her to such neatnesse Sure it is that an honest woman who●e fame is her highest prize requires nothing else desires nothing else than to satisfie her husbands bequest though dead honouring him with a due Commemoration and admiration of his vertues for the lives of those that dye consist in the memory of those that live So did Anthonia the daughter of Marc. Anthonie and wife to Drusus leading all the remainder of her life with her stepmother and reteining alwayes the remembrance of her dead husband The like did Livia who left both her house and land that shee might dwell under one roofe with Noemia fearing perhaps lest the Maids of her family growing too lasciviously wanton and inordinate might by their lightnesse prejudice her honour which shee incomparably valued above any treasure See you not here by our discourse Gentlewomen what excellent Lights darted out from those darke times Estimation was their best portion nothing of equall prize unto it choycest Vertues were their Ornaments which they preserv'd with such constancy as feare of death could not deprive them of them though after death they had scarce the least glimpse of immortality Thus have wee traced over these three Conditions which wee have stored with precepts strengthened with examples sweetned with choycest sentences that this reall Estimation whereof wee treat might bee discerned and that Superficiall Esteeme whereon wee are now to insist discovered MAny desire to appeare most to the eye what they are least in heart They have learned artfully to gull the world with apparances and deceive the time wherein they are Maskers with vizards and semblances These can enforce a smile to perswade you of their affability counterfeit a blush to paint out their modesty walke alone to expresse their love to privacy keepe their houses to publish them provident purveyors for their family receive strangers to demonstrate their love to hospitality Their speech is minced their pace measured their whole posture so cunningly composed as one would imagine them terrestriall Saints at least whereas they are nothing lesse than what they most appeare Some you shall observe so demure as in their Salutes they forbeare to expresse that freedome of Curtsie which civill custome exacts of them Those true Trojan Dames to pacifie their incensed husbands could finde a lippe to procure them love and supple their contracted looke Whereas these civilized Dames either out of a reservancy of state or desire to bee observ'd scorne to bee so familiarly demeaned as if they renounced antiquity and sought by all meanes that such Customes as plead prescription might bee reversed Their Lippe must bee their Cheeke which as it reteines a better tincture so many times a sweeter savour At these the Poet no lesse pleasingly than deservedly glanced in this Sonnet Tell me what is Beauty Skin Pure to th' eye but poore within What 's a kisse of that pure faire But Loves Lure or Adons snaire Nectar-balme did Adon sippe Not from Venus cheeke but lippe Why should then Loves beauty seeke To change lippe unto her cheeke All which hee elegantly clozeth in opposition to himselfe with these continuate Stanza's Cheeke shall I checke because I may not taste it No Nature rather who to th' eye so plac'd it As none can view it but hee must draw neare it O make the Chart familiar or else teare it To puchase improvement of esteeme by these meanes were to swim against the streame Discretion cannot approve of that for good which selfe opinion or singularity onely makes good These are but Superficiall showes which procure more contempt than repute more derision than ground of esteeme It is not a civill habit a demure looke a staid gate that deserves this report unlesse all these bee seconded with a resolved soule and a religious heart Those who dedicate themselves to the service of vertue preferre the pith before the rinde substance before appearance What can bee safe will these say with Lucretius to any woman if shee prostitute her honour or make it common Good women as they labour to avoyd all occasion of scandall so much more any act that may give breath to scandall Civill they are in heart and habit Constant in the profession of vertue For others they imitate the Whoorish Woman who wipes her mouth and saith Who seeth mee So they carry themselves charily they care not how little chastely There is none lookes through the Chinke to see them none in presence to heare them freely therefore may they commit what shall afterwards shame them Let mee then direct my Speech to these whited walls who make pretences their best attendants immaske their Impudence with the Vayle of darkenesse Tell mee yee deluded daughters is there any darkenesse so thicke and palpable that the piercing eye of heaven cannot spye you thorow it O if yee hope by sinning secretly to sinne securely you shall bee forced to say unto your God as Ahab saith unto Elijah Hast hou found mee O mine Enemy Nay O God terrible and dreadfull thou hast found mee And then let mee aske you in the same termes that the young Gallant in Erasmus asked his wanton Mistresse Are you not ashamed to do that in the sight of God and before his holy Angels which you are ashamed to doe in the sight of men Sinnes may bee without danger for a time but never without feare Stand then as in the presence of God redeeme the time you have lost love that which you have hitherto loath'd loath that which you have hitherto lov'd Know that these Superficiall Complementors are hypocriticall Courtiers these formall Damazens profest Curtezans You must not hold Religion to bee meere Complement I will not say but the bleered eye of humane reason may bee taken with these and conceive them reall which are onely Superficiall But the All-seeing eye cannot bee deceived hee sees not as man seeth Neither distance of place nor resemblance of that Object whereon his eye is fixt can cause him to mistake The bowells of the Earth are unto him as the Surface bee it your resolve to compose your selves ever as in his presence considering how in chastising you