Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	law_n	sin_n	transgression_n	2,676	5	10.9658	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20863	The school of patience. Written in Latin by H. Drexelius. And faithfully translated into English, by R.S. Gent; Gymnasium patientiae. English	Drexel, Jeremias, 1581-1638.; R. S., gent.; Stanford, Robert, attributed name.; Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650, engraver.	1640 (1640)	STC 7240; ESTC S109941	206,150	562

I say amisse That most holy King David sayes even as much for when the wicked Shimier reproached him with words nay even cast stones at him and some of the Kings train were of mind to have cut off his head the King gave expresse charge to all his followers in ●his manner Let him alone that he may curse for our Lord hath commanded him to curse David and who is he that dare say Why hath he so done Did therfore Shimei commit no sin in doing this yea doubtlesse a most heynous one observe a while and the truth will easily appeare When David the wisest of Kings saw this wretch Shimei all alone and unarmed and yet heard him calumniate him resolutely and without feare he presently was of opinion that the first beginning or fundamentall cause of that injury proceeded not from Shemei but from God who had ordained the slanderous and malicious speech of so wicked a man to chastise and punish him By what means therefore did God command him this Be advised and understand the matter as it is There are two things to be considered in sin The first is the naturall motion of the body or will or of them both jointly together the other is the transgression it selfe of the law For example One brother slanders another a citizen kills a citizen a souldier sets an house of fire a thiefe steals a thousand crownes In these acts the motion of the tongue the deadly stroke the setting fire to the house the taking away of the money are done by Gods help and assistance for they are all naturall actions which cannot be done without Gods help And this is the first thing which ought to be considered in every sin which without doubt is by this meanes furthered by God himselfe But the other is the very nature it selfe of sin as when this naturall action is imployed contrary to reason against conscience and the law of God this God neither willeth nor commandeth neverthelesse he directeth the perverse will of this man or that sin and transgression of his lawes to the punishment admonition correction or increasing the patience of another man Therefore of doing the thing God is the authour and when it is ill done he is a provident director So God assisted Shimei to utter his words to cast durt and stones for these were no other then naturall motions but for so much as Shimei shewed a malicious will against his Prince thereunto God concurred not but neverthelesse directed it to a very good end that by these calumnies the sins of David might be punished his patience and humility exercised And this may be seen and obserued in all sins and in all injuries whatsoever The evill of sin God tolerates and the evill of punishment he orders and directs to a good end to increase patience and to punish sin Thus he permits famine war plagues deluges burning thefts injuries injustices and enormous crimes and withall so disposeth them that even by these evills he manifesteth to the world more and more his goodnesse his justice his power and his glory After this manner God is the Authour of all evils as they are punishments of which Doctrine we produce truth it self for a witnesse God being highly offended with the Jews said I will gather evills upon them and glut my arrows with them Lo I will bring upon them evills out of which they shall not be able to escape Behold God even loads with evills God wounds us with his arrows And we childishly are angry with his arrows and darts we never mark what arm it is that shoots and darts them So the Painter when his picture is not to his minde quarrels with his pencill the Serivener with his pen the Carpenter with his ax the Potter with his clay so we accuse those that malice and slander us as authours of our evills but we are infinitely deceived it is not the pencill but the Painter the pen but the Scrivener who are the authours of the writing or picture Job was in this respect of a better opinion when he said The hand of our Lord had touched him It was neither the Caldeans nor the Sabeans nor any other enemy whatsoever but the hand of God that hath overthrown me Sect. V. HAve we any doubt of this It is the testimony of the wise man Good things and evill life and death poverty and honesty come from God This the Prophet Micheas clearly confirms where he saith That evill is descended from the Lord into the gate of Hierusalem And that he might make them more cautelous whom he admonished Behold quoth he I purpose evill upon this family The like affirmeth the Prophet Amos And where finally shall there be evill which our Lord hath not done And that we may exactly acknowledge all these evills of punishment and innumerable kindes of affliction to come from the Divine will of God let us call to remembrance he woften he hath by little contemptible creatures discomfited his enemies in far more glorious manner then he could with great puissant armies Thus Almighty God is wont to suppresse humane pride thus he sends poor abject worms mice bats flies lice and such like sordid creatures to vanquish not the scum or dregs of the people but to triumph over Kings Princes Emperours Thus he draws forth as it were whole armies of gnats flies frogs wasps and locusts and with these troops overthrows whole nations and countreys The Book of Wisdom declareth Thou hast sent wasps fore-runners of thine hoste that by little and little they might destroy them The Book of Kings witnesseth 〈◊〉 ●uch And the towns and fields 〈…〉 forth in the midst of that count●●● and there came forth mice and there was confusion of great death in the city Genebrard relateth of a King who for poisoning of his nephews committed to his charge was together with his wife devoured by mice Conies undermined a city in Spain and moles a city in Macedonia as Plinie witnesseth When Sapor King of the Persians a man greedily thirsting after the bloud of Christians belieged the city of Nisibis James Nisibita their Bishop brought down upon them by his prayers not an army of souldiers but of flies and gnats from heaven These little creatures more powerfully then the vast army of Xer●es impugned the enemy for when the horses and elephants felt themselves continually stung and vexed by those little vermins in their ears snow●● and nostrils they became mad a●d furious brake their bridles and ran headlong away insomuch that the King knowing not what to do nor ●●ither to turn him left all and withdraw himself from the enterprise The l●ke successe had Charles king of Sicilie and Puilip king of France when they tooke Gerunda a City in Spain where the outrage impiety of the souldiers spared neither Churches nor Sepulchres c. But when they broke up the tombe of St. Narcissus a huge swarm of flies issued out of it and made such a slaughter amongst

lesse Think that saying of Saint Augustine verified in Aug. Tract 7. ●n Ioan. thee How many are there wicked in health who sick would be innocent Sin is pruned and cut off by sicknesse But O how rich is he that hath his health Answ No in sicknesse thou beginnest to be acceptable to God Reckon this amongst other benefits of thy disease we never set a right value on health till it be taken from us O how weak and how feeble am I now Heer let Saint Bernard answer thee Better it is to be broken with labours and dolours and be saved then to remain Bern de inter d●mo● 46. in health and be damned O what a slave am I to pains and griefe Answ Reflect thine eye from thy selfe upon Christ crucified there view a man of dolours indeed and knowing infirmities for he truly bare our languors and sustained our dolours Ah! when will this obstinate and cruell disease have an end Answ It is a signe of cold love to desire presently an end of suffering for Christ before we have well begun But if I were now in health I would go to Church and purifie my soul with heavenly Sacraments Ans Beleeve me the least degree of patience in sicknesse is the best means to expiate thy sins Therefore as blessed Saint Gregory adviseth we must say to the sick that if they beleeve they have any right to their countrey in heaven they must of necessity suffer labour and pain heer as in a forrain land Let him that is sick commend himselfe to the divine goodnesse and say Even thy rod and thy staffe have comforted me Heer let me be pricked heer tormented heer burned so I burne not everlastingly Think not much I beseech thee gentle Reader to peruse what the harbinger of eternity brings to compose and rectifie the thoughts of sick persons Heer we surcease to avoid prolixity Sect. II. ARROWES PAins and griefes are arrowes piercing deeper then any two-edged sword King David being very sensible of these arrowes saith Thy arrowes are sharp cares irksomnesse griefe feare sicknesse wound the soule like arrowes It is in a manner the greatest griefe of all to have a wounded mind For as mentall delights far exceed all corporall so the griefe and anguish of the mind far surpasses all other dolours Christ the Redeemer of the world on mount Olivet and mount Calvary complained not of stripes and scourges nor of the sharp pricking thornes and nails but upon the crosse cried out of his grieved mind that he was forsaken of his father The sorrow and heavinesse of Christ was inexplicable which caused those lamentable voices My soule is heavie even to death And My God my God why hast thou forsaken me The wounds of the mind exced all penall acerbities And therefore the wise man said Griefe of heart is an universall wound Sometimes Almighty God brings his servants into such straits that all things seem to oppose them and which is the greatest misery they think that God himselfe is highly offended with them Neverthelesse they are not destitute of hope but again and again cry O my Lord God! in the day I have cried and in the night before thee because my soul is filled with evill things and my life hath drawn near to hell I am poore and in labours from my youth Or according to others I am afflicted and like to one giving up the ghost from my youth I have born thy terrours and have trembled The Scripture tells us that the Hebrewes passing out of Egypt came into Mara and could not drink the waters of Mara because they were bitter c. There he gave them precepts and judgements and there he tried them Here one will say I beseech thee Lord was there not a more commodious place for the enacting of thy Lawes Did the worst seem unto thee the fittest heer the very water it selfe increased their thirst But Reason what meanest thou here to expostulate There God established Lawes and Precepts and there he tempted and tried them For this affaire the most incommodious place was most fitting for them In the richest and most fertill countries amidst delicacies the Law of God for the most part is contemned Felicity is but stepmother to all vertues They who are oppressed with adversities and fearfull of losing their estates learn sooner to fear God then they who by felicity are invited to lasciviousnesse For the most part God is neerest unto us in adversity Therefore Nahum the Prophet said Our Lord was in the tempest in the whirlwind of his way God comes to us in the midst of lightning and thunder and then commonly he is neerest when the tempest of affl●ction is greatest Witnesse Saint Gregory The evills which heer oppresse us compell us to have recourse unto God Jonathan and David that noble paire of friends thus agreed betweene themselves I said Jonathan will shoote three arrowes and will shoote as it were practising at a marke I will likewise send a boy saying unto him goe bring me my arrowes if I say to the boy looke the arrowes are on this side thee take them up come to me for then all is in peace and nothing amisse God every day and moment shootes and sends forth his arrowes out of his bow and powreth forth on men all kinds of maladies Whosoever is strucken with one of these arrowes let him not be appal'd or dismayd at the wound behold the arrows of God have transfixed thee peace i● with thee and there is no hurt done These woundes are signes of health But these shaftes thou sayest miserably torment thy minde and often times affl●ct thee with extreame anguishes To be vexed in minde to repent to be contristated to grieve and feare are horrible torment● to the m●nde Admit all this yet if thou patiently receive all these arrowes shot against thee feare not peace is with thee and there is no harme done thy God liveth Behold King David who perceiving himselfe more then once wounded saith thine arrows are fixed in me and thou hast confirmed thy hand upon me He did not only lament and groane at the arrowes shot against him but also at those that were fixed and sticking in him There were many things that grieved and troubled this good king Be●sabe was no sooner delivered of a sonne but it ●yed His sonne Ammon committed incest wi●h his daughter Thamar then ready for marriage Ammon himselfe being dru●ke at a feast is slaine by his brother Absolon From this degenerating sonne Absalon that good father deposed from his royall throne and deprived of his crowne is forced to flye as from the face of an enemy Behold what deepe wounds these arrowes made in King David I not one or two but very many they were that showred downe one his head And how sharpe and penetrating was Nathans speech pronouncing in publike Tu es ille-vir Thou art that very man why hast thou contemned the word of thy Lord say●h God that thou mightest do evill

we take in hand is subject to a thousand casualties And if it would please God in prosperity to vouchsafe us a prudent and well disposed minde we should duly consider not onely those things which happened but those also which might have fallen out by adversity we learn to bear all fortunes Give us leave therefore with Secundus openly to exclaim O how commodious a thing it is to passe thorow adversity to the benefit of prosperity But O how Christian-like is it and conformable to modesty to acknowledge a mans selfe not unjustly punished in adversity The brothers of the Aegyptian Vice-Roy as before I have shewed were accused of theft for it was thus openly laid to their charge The cup which you have stollen is the very same that my master drinks in They might have answered for themselves We are no theeves neither will we endare that slander we are guiltlesse and accused wrongfully But O my Masters call to remembrance you have stollen much more then a thousand cups You stole your brother Joseph himself three and twenty yeers ago Do you not remember it This is a foul and grievous theft worthy to be revenged with all the punishments that may be Here the brothers of Joseph albeit otherwise rude and unskilfull persons yet are to be commended in that they confessed themselves guilty God said they hath found the iniquity of thy servants Behold we are all the servants of my Lord. This l●kewise was a notable good saying of theirs We are well worthy to suffer these things because we have sinned against our brother Thus let every one of us think and say in adversity Justly do I suffer these afflictions deservedly most deservedly In the Shool of Patience humility is the beginning middle and conclusion of all without humility there is nothing to be learned nothing to be retained nor any profit to be made For the learning of this the principall thing of all others daily to be thought of is that blessed eternity in which we shall sing amidst triumphs we rejoyce for the dayes wherein thou hast humbled us for the yeers in which we have seen evill things Those whom God afflicteth not he either hateth or neglecteth them as sluggish and slothfull persons uncapable of discipline CHAP. V. Affliction is most profitable for divers respects and for the most part we are best taught by our own harms DAvid King of Hebron having received thousands of benefits at Gods hands lest he should die ungratefull cryed out It is well with me my Lord that thou hast humbled me But why rather did he not remember far greater benefits Where are his thanks to God for having changed his sheep-hook into a scepter his straw-hat into a royall diademe for having advanced him from a sheep-coat to a throne from keeping of cattell to the government of men and a purple robe These I say had been far more worthy of most ample thanks Doubtlesse King Divid was not forgetfull of those he deemed it a singular great and unspeakable favour to bee made a King of a shepheard but he tooke it for a farre greater when it pleased God of a king to make him a begger as indeed he was when he fled from Absolon his son This he thought a benefit exceeding all the rest for this rendering most ample thanks he sa●d it is well with me that thou hast humbled me Let Joseph say to Pharaoh It is well with me that thou hast exalted me Ruth to her Booz It is well with me that thou hast enriched me let Ester say to the King It is well with me that thou hast crowned me let Mardocheus say to Assuerus it is well with me that thou hast honoured me let Tobias say to the Angell it is well with mee that thou hast restored my sight let Naaman say to Eliseus it is well with me that thou hast cleansed me of my leprosy let the lame man say to Saint Peter it is well with me that thou hast cured me let Lazarus say to Christ it is well with me that thou hast restored me to life but King David as for one of his chiefest favours saith it is well with me that thou hast humbled me it is well with me it is well indeed For this is far more available to me and therefore far dearer then if thou hadest bestowed mountaines of gold upon me Why I beseech you was this so great a good unto this King That I may learn thy statutes Till now said he I understood not sufficiently the stile of the celestiall court I was ignorant what belonged to the law of God now at last by this meanes I come to know it but in the Schoole of Patience heere no man becomes learned but he that is humbled It is well therefore with me O Lord that thou hast humbled me With good reason David rendreth great thanks not for that hee was enriched and exalted but because he was humbled We may well say that humiliation and affliction are the profitablest things to a man that may be Affliction exactly teacheth him fortitude and fidelity commiseration abstinence prayer and mortification prudence modesty as already we have shew'd I ad moreover that affliction in generall to a man that is not over much subject to impatience is exceeding profitable so that it is a true saying Quae nocent docent This Cresus witnessed of himselfe in Herodotus My mishaps saith he albeit they have been ungratefull unto me yet they have served me for instructions Quae nocent docent which the Grecians expresse as briefly as elegantly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We grow wise by being beaten with our own rod. And of this we shall now speak more at large Sect. 1. IOb commendeth the admirable providence of God who bindeth the waters in their clouds that they may not all breake down at once It is the providence of God to shut up waters in the aire and binde them as it were in a cloath and garment that they may not issue out The clouds are in stead of a chariot to these waters and the windes the horses which draw these vessels throughout all the quarters of the world Now if Almighty God should suffer these waters at one dash to fal headlong upon the ground without all question they would do more harme then good but falling by little and little and drop after drop they fatten and fertill the earth If he altogether with-hold the waters saith Job all things will be dried up and if he let them absolutely at large they will overwhelme the earth as they did in the generall deluge when being set at liberty they gathered together and powred downe amaine God therfore out of his infinite providence so tempereth the vaste Chaos of the waters that he deprives not the fields of them by continuall restraint nor drowns the earth by too sudden enlargement He observes a mean Waters in the holy Scriptures are a symbol of afflictions and therefore the royall Psalmist said The