Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	death_n	prick_n	unavoidable_a	36	3	17.6872	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85498	The saints hony-comb, full of divine truths, touching both Christian belief, and a Christians life, in two centuries. By Richard Gove.	Gove, R. (Richard), 1587-1668.	1652 (1652)	Wing G1454; Thomason E1313_1; ESTC R202241	83,389	226

not mens knowledge of a King which makes him a King but his own power Saul was a King when the Witch of Endor in 1 Sam. 28. knew not of it And Ahab and Jeroboams wife were as truly Princes in their disguise as in their robes Expression XCIII That even our very Concupiscence may be a reigning sin FOr as a Child may be born a King and be crowned in his Cradle so sin in the womb may reign and to speak properly there is the reign of it chiefly founded for they are our lusts which are to be satisfied in any sinfull courses we take all the subsidies succours aides contributions which are brought in are spent upon our lusts And therefore not to mourn for and bewail this naturall concupis●ence as David did in Psal. 51. 5. and Paul in Rom. 7. 23. is a manifest sign that even lust and concupiscence reign in us Expression XCIV That even sins of Omission may be reigning sins FOr as in matters of government a Princes Negative voyce whereby he hinders the doing of a thing is oftentimes as great an argument of his Royalty as his Positive commands to have a thing done So in sin the power which it hath to dead and take off the heart from Christian duties from communion with God from knowledge of his Will from delight in his Word and the like is a notorious fruit of this reign ●f sin Expression XCV That a Christian should be more willing to suffer a greater injury than to revenge a lesser ANd this saith Saint Augustine methinks Christ himself in that precept of his in the Gospell Mat. 5. 39. seems plainly to intimate where he bids us when we are smitten on the right cheek which blow coming from the left hand the weaker of the two by nature is lesse sore and grievous we must turn the other check allso that it may receive a greater blow from the right hand which is stronger than the left and falls not so light where it lighteth Expression XCVI That the Tongue is a notable means to discover the soundnesse or unfoundnesse of the heart FOr man is like a Bell and his Tongue like the Clapper of the Bell Now we know that a Bell as long as he standeth still and is neither rung nor tolled may have a flaw craze or crack in him and not be discerned by any that doe behold him but let it be but once rung or tolled and the Clapper strike against the sides of it and it will presently appear to the ears of all that hear it So 't is with man he may by his outward looks and carriage promise much soundnesse and sincerity of heart to all those that behold him and as long as his clapper his tongue standeth still he may be thought to be without any great craze or crack in him But let that once stir and then you will presently see whether it be so or no For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak Mat. 12. 34. Expression XCVII That Man bears misery and frail●y in his very name THere be but four usuall Hebrew names by which Man is called in Scripture Ish En●sh Gheber and Adam and of these four three of them doe absolutely carry miserie in their significations so that it is three to one against any man but that he is miserable One name of man is Ish and that they derive à sonitu to shew that man is but a voyce but a sound but a noyse he begins the noyse himself when he comes crying into the world and when he goes out he commonly ends it with a groan But Ish may perchance be Ha-Ish and with that Emphasis in Hebrew it commonly denotes a some great man Well let it be so but then his second name Enosh abates that greatnesse for Enosh is meer calamity misery depression or as some render it oblivion as if he were a thing which for his very misery were scarce worthy to be taken notice of and remembred His third name Gheber hath in it indeed some tast of greatnesse and power and yet I that am that man saith the Prophet Lam. 3. 1. that Gheber for so is the word there I even I have seen affliction by the rod of Gods wrath But suppose man were as the name signifieth Ghe●er indeed great and power●ull is he sure so to continue No his fourth name Adam puls down his plumes and tels him that he is but an a earthly Creature made of earth and therefore to b return to the earth again God knows how soon how suddenly Expression XCVIII That Death makes all men equall SOme to expresse this compare the life of man to a game at Chesse where there be divers degrees of men standing every one in his place on the Chesse-board whilst the game is playing whereof some be Kings some Queens some Bishops some Knights some Rooks and some Pawns and amongst these first one is taken away then another and so one after another till the game be ended and when the game is once ended then they are swept all into the bag together where none is better than other and the a meanest many times lyeth uppermost and the greatest underneath Others expresse it thus by that Story of Alexander the Great wherein it is reported of him that he having heard of Paradise and what a brave place it was was purposed to search it out And as he was thus in his search and his souldiers marching before him they came at last to a certain inaccessible place where there appeared unto them one in the likenesse of an old man who bid them return back to Alexander and to tell him that he laboured ●n vain to find out Paradise for the way to Paradise was humility which he was ignorant of and he withall gave them a little stone and bid them carry it to Alexander and to tell him that by that little stone he might come to the knowledge of himself Now the stone was a very precious stone and had this quality that if it were put into a scale it would weigh down all that was put against it but if there were but a little earth put upon it it would be no heavier than any other stone of like bignesse So that hereby was intimated that though Alexander for his power and prowesse did in his life-time excell all others yet being dead and buried he would be but as others were Expression XCIX How short and uncertain the life of man is THe Learned doe observe that in the Hebrew tongue which is full of mysteries the same word signifieth both life and death viz. Metin onely with this difference that if the word have a prick over it it signifieth life but being written without a prick over it it signifieth death to shew that life and death differ but in one prick or point and that that falls to lifes turn to have it because our life is but a

prick a point a moment yea a lesse than all these in comparison of death nothing Expression C. That death is unavoidable SAint Austin prettily expresseth this thus The Verb morior saith he which in Latine signifieth to dye could never yet be declined by any Grammarian by the same rule that other Verbs be declined by which whether it have so fallen out by humane ignorance or divine providence may teach us saith he this lesson That though we may by some means or other decline and avoid other things that may hurt us in some cases yet we can in a no case decline death but first or last it will seize on us And the same b Father hath another witty expression of it thus All other things which belong unto us saith he whether they be good or evill are uncertain onely death is certain For when a child is conceived we can say but thus perhaps he shall be born perhaps he shall be abortive Again when he is born all that we can say is but this perhaps he shall live till he come to mans estate perhaps he shall dye before Again when he comes to mans estate all that we can say is but this perhaps he shall marry perhaps he shall not perhaps he shall have children perhaps he shall have none perhaps he shall be rich perhaps not perhaps he shall be honourable perhaps not perhaps he shall live till he be old perhaps not and so he goes on with many other perhaps to the like purpose But when all is said saith he Can any man say the like of his death Fortè morietur fortè non morietur Perhaps he shall dye perhaps he shall not dye No a none can say so of this For it is appointed unto all men once to dye Heb. 9. 27. HUMANE EXPRESSIONS OF DIVINE TRUTHS The second Century Expression I. That seeing God is our father we need not to be dishearted in our distempers and damps of prayer FOr suppose the dearest son of the lovingst Father should lie grievously sick and out of the extremity of anguish should cry out and complain unto him that he is so full of pain in every part that he knows not which way to turn himself or what to do and thereupon should intreat him of all loves to touch him tenderly to lay him softly to asswage if it may be his pain and to give him ease How ready think you would such a father be with all tenderness and care to put to his helping hand in such a ruefull case But yet if this child should grow sicker and weaker so that he could not speak at all but onely look his father in the face with Watry eyes and moan himself unto him with sighs and groans and other dumb expressions of his increased pain and desire to speak would not this yet strike deeper into the fathers heart pierce and melt it with more feeling pangs of compassion and make his bowels yern within him with an addition of extraordinary dearness and eare to do him good Even just so and much more too will our heavenly father be affected and deal with us in hearing helping and shewing mercy when all our strength of prayer is gon and we can but onely look up to him with our eyes and ply him with our groans and sighs Expression II. That seeing God is our father we need not to be disheartned if we cannot pray so fluently and eloquently as others can FOr is not a father more delighted with the stammering and stu●tering as it were with the inarticulate and imperfect talk of his own little child when it first begins to speak than with the exactest eloquence of the most famous Oratour upon earth So surely is our heavenly father better pleased with the broken interrupted passages and periods of prayer in an upright heart heartily grieved that he can do no better nor offer up a more lively hearty and orderly sacrifice than with the excellently composed fine-phrased and most methodicall petitions of the learnedst pharisie and self-conceited zelot in the world Expression III. That seeing God is our father we need not to be disheartned at the faintness of our faith and fear of letting go our hold of God WHen we see a father holding a little child in his arms is the child think we safe by his own or by the fathers hold It clapseth about the father with his little weak hands as well as it can but the strength of its safety is in the fathers arms Nay and many times the father holds the faster when he perceives the child to have left its hold Just so stands the case betwixt God and us we are tyed as it were unto God our Father by a double bond 1. Of his Spirit 2. Of our faith We lay hold on him by faith and he on us by his Spirit Now our infant-like and weak faith many times lets go to our seeming our hold of him and therefore presently we think all our hold of him is gon and begin to cry out we are undone we perish and there is no hope any more in God for us But we are herein deceived for though we have let go our hold of God by faith yet hath he not let goe his hold of us by his Spirit but rather holds us the faster to himself thereby the Devill nor all the powers of darknesse being able to take us out of his hands Expression III. That seeing God is our Father we need not to be disheartned at our failings of new obedience FOr the case is here allso as it is between a father and his son A father hath a son whom he sets about some work and the son improves the utmost of his skill strength and endeavour to doe it according as his father would have it done but when he hath done all that he can he sees that he comes farre short of what he himself desired and his father expected and therefore weeps and takes on and is much troubled that he can do it no better to give his father contentment Now what man is there whose heart is warmed with the tenderness of a fathers affection that would not be ready to pardon and pass by all the defects and failings in this kind And shall God our heavenly father think we shew less mercy and pardon to his children when they are willing to do what he enjoyns them and be heartily sorry that they can do it no better No surely it cannot be Expression IV. That seeing God is our father we need not to be disheartned if he to our seeming do sometimes hide his face from us A Father solacing himself with his litle child and delighting in his pretty and pleasing behaviour is wont sometimes to step aside into a corner or behind a door of purpose to quicken yet more his childs love to him and his longing after him and to try the impaciency and eagerness of his affection