Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	actual_a	die_v	great_a	20	3	2.0850	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13996	A discourse of death, bodily, ghostly, and eternall nor vnfit for souldiers warring, seamen sayling, strangers trauelling, women bearing, nor any other liuing that thinkes of dying. By Thomas Tuke.	Tuke, Thomas, d. 1657.	1613 (1613)	STC 24307; ESTC S100586	74,466	126

and die most wickedly but theirs is counted most odious and infamous who either murder themselues or else die by Law for their outragious villanies Bias being asked What kinde of death was euill answered Quod legibus constitutum est That which the Lawes ordained meaning that which men haue deserued for their wickednesse as treason murther robberie In like manner hee in Plautus saith So I die not for my faults I care not much though I perish heere Qui per virtutem peritat non interit He that dies for well-doing doth not die 24. Why doe not men know the very time that is appointed for their deathes Saint Austen shall answere Latet vltimus dies vt obseruentur omnes dies A mans last day is kept secret that all daies might be obserued Ad hoc fortè nescis quando veniet vt semper paratus sis therefore it may be thou knowest not when he will come that thou mightest be alwaies prepared I suppose saith Plutarch that Nature knowing the confusion and shortnesse of our life would therefore haue the period of our life vnknowne to vs for it is cōmodious for vs. For if we should forknow it many would pine away with vntimely mourning would preuēt death with death he means the feare of death would kill thē wheras otherwise by course of nature they might haue liued longer 25. Whether is a man worse at his death or at his birth Peiores morimur quâm nascimur we die more euill then we are borne saith Seneca But this is our fault not natures if we consider it simply without relatiō to corruption Indeed we are borne in sinne but that sin is not acted of vs but by propagatiō deriued to vs but before we die if we liue the age of a man we die after the commission of many actuall transgressions Neuerthelesse by the grace of God in Christ a mans death may be better then his birth much more comfortable For to be borne is a worke of nature but to die with Christian faith fortitude either for Christ or in Christ is a work aboue nature I haue read of some that are said to die or to sleepe in Christ but I read of none that is borne in Christ re-borne and borne a new in Christ we may be said but not borne In briefe There is no man borne iustified and absolued But a man may die iustified and absolued Now it is better to die iustified then to bee borne a sinner It is better to die the child of Christ then to bee borne the sonne of Adam This then I say an old man dying if we regard him by himselfe is worse then an infant newly borne but if we consider an Infant without Christ an old man in Christ certainly it is much better for him to die with many sins forgiuen in Christ then fot the other to be born though but with one sin out of Christ so to die in that estate 26. Of all kindes of death considered simply without respect of grace or sinne which is the best Iulius Caesar said that sodaine death was best and a sodaine death befell himselfe But as I take it a sodaine death except it be by the course of nature without violence is not the best For that doubtlesse is the best which is most agreeable vnto nature now a naturall death is not simply sudden because it is not without messengers and signes foregoing yet sometimes it comes on the sodaine that is in a trice or before a man thinkes or while he thinks he may liue a while longer or when he thinkes not of it sometimes whiles he sleepes sometimes whilst he is awake as a mellow apple which drops of whilst a man sometimes is lookng on it 27. Whether is it lawfull for a man to pray that God would tell him directly when hee shall leaue the world and die I would not say it is altogether vnlawfull by reason of some extraordinarie occasions But vsually and ordinarily it is not expedient For reuealed things belong to vs but not the secrets of God such as are hidden seasons locked vp within Gods breast as the day of our death the day of Christs comming And as it is no way fit to pray to know the day of iudgement the verie time of the Iudges cōming so neither is it to pray to know the certain houre of death For though our end may be good yet that is not enough to make a prayer good but it must be made in faith according to the will of God But the curious inquiring into such things hath a checke in the Scriptures And though Dauid pray Lord let me know mine end and the measure of my daies what it is and let me know how long I haue to liue yet he meanes as I take it not to begge the knowledge of the verie point article of his death but desires God to giue him grace to acknowledge consider and duely to acquaint himselfe with the shortnesse and frailtie of his life as to me it seemeth by considering the words ensuing and by comparing it with Psal 92. 12. But howsoeuer it be we know Legibus viuitur non exemplis that good and obedient Christians must liue by lawes and not by ensamples But I demaund why wouldest thou know the verie moment of thy death That thou mightest prepare thy selfe the better for it Thy meaning may be good but this thine ayme is of litle moment Know this thou art a man die thou must this verie day may see thy death prepare thy selfe this day Thou maist die any day to day to morrow next day be therefore prepared euery day to day to morrow next day any day euerie day Miserable man why dost thou not prepare thy selfe euery houre Thinke of thy selfe as if thou werst now a dying for thou knowest thou must die It is not for thee to know the times or the seasons which God hath put in his owne power If God will not haue thee know them then desire not to know them It is enough for vs to know wee must die how soone or when it skils not it cannot be long to for we are but fome and fume 28. What honour ought the liuing to performe vnto the dead I answere they ought moderately to be touched with the losse of them they ought to giue them honest buriall they ought to commemorate and imitate their vertues they should praise God for his graces giuen them and for receiuing them to mercy out of a miserable mercilesse world they ought to maintaine their credits they ought not to misuse their bodies neither speake euill of them if the deafe ought not to be euill spoken of much lesse the dead for who deafer then a dead man who further off Who lesse able to answere for himselfe Hauing thus ended these questions concerning death and dead

men I come now to set down some principall vses of that which hath beene said before First seeing death destroyes not the soule though it dissolue the bodie we see that the soule is of a more noble nature then the bodie and therefore more to be esteemed and with greater care and loue to be kept and tended As God excelleth all soules or as the Ladie excels her handmaid so the soule excelleth all bodies What would a man haue euill Surely nothing not his wife not his sonne not his seruant not his horse not his ground not his fruite no not his coate and wilt thou haue an euill soule For shame take care of it that it be not euill Euill it is or good For Omnis anima aut Christisponsa aut Diaboli adultera est euery soule as Saint Austen speaketh is eyther the Spouse of Christ and then good or the diuels harlot and so is euill If euill then thy state is euill and if death finde it euill it leaues it euill and this soule which cannot die in respect of dissolution yet it doth die in regard of consolation being separated by euill as wel from God who is the soule and solace of the soule as from the bodie which in life it did enioy with ioy And forsomuch as the soule doth suruiue the bodie and liue when it is dead it should comfort mē against the dread that death brings with it For they shall not be Nothing nor No-where Death doth subdue but one part and that which is the baser of them Secondly seeing God inflioteth death without whose prouidence it could not come it teacheth vs in all patience quietnesse and humilitie to bee contented with his worke not opening our mouthes against him though he take vs away in the flower of our time or by the crueltie of wicked men And to them that truly serue God according to his will it cannot but be a comfort that whē they die they die not without the knowledge but by the will and disposement of their gracious aud louing Master who is able to saue them in death as he did Daniel in the Lions denne and the three Children in the fierie furnace Thirdly seeing death is the fruit of sinne it should teach vs to detest sinne Death is not very pleasing but rather odious to flesh and bloud How much more odious then should sinne bee counted by which death found entrance into the world and without which no man had euer died Diseases death and damnation come by sinne diseases hinder health death endeth life and damnation depriues man of the ioyes of saluation will any wise man then delight in sinne a thing so odious hurtfull and vnhappie Salomon being directed by the Spirit of God calles him a Foole that maketh a mocke of sinue and as a pastime to doe wickedly Doth any man loue the plague the gout the palsie the stone the crampe the canker or the dropsie I suppose no man All these diseases are the consequents of sinne the world had not knowne them had shee not beene acquainted with sinne and certainely these diseases are not more hurtful to the body then sinne is to the true health and life of the soule Sinne is a Tyger a Beare a Lyon an Aspe a Viper a destroyer both of bodie and of soule Fourthly the ineuitable necessitie of Death which lies vpon all the world condemnes the immoderate feare of Death in many men There is no man so ignorant but knowes hee must die yet when death is threatned what feare is there what fainting what tergiuersation what impatience is there to be seene in many Quid fles miser quid trepidas Eye wretch why doest thou weep why dost thou tremble This yoke is laid vpon euery necke thou goest the way that all mê go To this wast thou born this hath befallen thy Father thy Mother thine ancestors to all men before thee and to all that succeed thee Wilt thou not thinke to come thither at last whither thou hast beene a going alwaies Nullum sine exitu iter est there is no iourney without an end VVee make our life vnquiet with the feare of death and such is the madnesse of men that some by the feare of death are brought vnto death wee ought to fortifie our selues that wee loue not our life too well and that wee hate not death too much and when reason aduiseth vs to dye and not to feare Vir fortis strenuus non fugere debet de vita sed exire a man of courage and spirit should not flye out of life but goe out To dye is not glorious but to dye couragiously is glorious Finally seeing all men must dye and seeing Christ vvill finde them at the day of iudgement as the day of their Death doth leaue them it behooues all men to prepare themselues for Death that it may not hurt them but rather helpe them To this end these things are to bee considered and performed First hee that would haue comfort in his death must beleeue in God the Authour of life in Iesus Christ who saues vs from the power and euill of Death Verily verily I say vnto you saith Christ Hee that heareth my word and beleeueth him that sent me hath euerlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life And to Martha speaking of himselfe hee saith I am the Resurrection and the life hee that beleeueth in mee though he were dead yet shall he liue and whosoeuer lineth and beleeueth in me shall neuer die meaning the death of the damned Now Christ who thus speaketh to vs is omnipotent and true Verbum eius ab intentione non dissentit quia Veritas est nec factum a Verbo quia Virtus est Hee is Trueth and therefore he speakes as he meanes and he is Might it selfe therefore he does as he speakes But he doth professe and promise that those that beleeue in him shall not perish by death but liue for euer therfore we may be bold vpon his word and should stir vp our selues to beleeue And let no man deceiue himselfe For hee onely doth aright beleeue in Christ who beleeues him in his word and Sacraments and in his Ministers speaking according to his word In vaine it is for men to say or thinke they beleeue in Christ who beleeue not his Lawe who regard not his Sacraments who beleeue not his Seruants declaring to them their Maisters minde This faith is not faith but fancie Secondly hee that would dye the Death of the Godly must repent of the sinnes of the wicked For without Repentance it is vnpossible to escape the damnation of vnrepentant Sinners Returne saith God and iniquitie shall not be your destruction Cast away all your transgressions For why will yee die Qui per poenitentiam peccata diluit angelica foelicitatis consorsin aeternum