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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	father_n	lord_n	soul_n	6,920	5	4.8290	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B14844	Six excellent treatises of life and death collected (and published in French) by Philip Mornay, sieur du Plessis ; and now (first) translated into English.	Mornay, Philippe de, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, 1549-1623.; Cyprian, Saint, Bishop of Carthage.; Ambrose, Saint, Bishop of Milan, d. 397.; Cicero, Marcus Tullius.; Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, ca. 4 B.C.-65 A.D.	1607 (1607)	STC 18155; ESTC S94239	82,027	544

to taste in liuing vnder thy protection Thou art admirable graciously good in time of affliction in that by such meanes thou healest our spirituall maladies and visiting vs thus in this world thou framest vs to meditate on a better life thou thy selfe hauing shewed vs a liuely example thereof It is true that I finde it hard to digest but thou wert brought to another maner of conditiō when to redeeme mee from hell thou didst descend thither and for the reconciling mee to thy heauenly Father diddest vnder-goe his curse By reason of my sinnes I haue so many times deserued hell and euerlasting fire and thou deliueredst mee I being secure that I haue a part in thy merit and obedience and that I am one of thy coheires to reigne one day with thee in thy kingdome and euen at this present in the middest of all afflictions to be seated neuerthelesse in heauenly places Hauing therefore my part in so many felicities why should I grudge to suffer a little time by meanes whereof thou meanest to awake improoue and drawe me neerer to thee But seeing thou knowest me better than I know my selfe if thou pleasest to make some triall of me grant me necessary power and patience to glorifie thee conuerting all the euill which may occurre vnto mee to my good and saluation And if in graciously supporting my debilitie thy benignitie doe vouchsafe to aduertise mee by some light affliction effect that this thy clemencie may drawe mee more and more to loue and honour thee to giue thee thanks for the care thou hast of thy poore humble seruant and by this meanes dispose me to attend and expect thee in death that after the same I may finde that life which I obtained by thy death and there bee made partaker with thee of perpetuall ioy and rest for euermore Amen Another O Lord God heauenly Father whē I consider howe many wayes I haue offended before thy presence and high Maiestie I abhorre my selfe in thinking howe many times I haue forsaken thee my fauorable and gentle Father I detest my ingratitude when I see into what seruitude of sinne I haue too often throwen my selfe headlong downe selling as farre as in mee lay the precious libertie which thy Sonne purchased for mee I condemne my folly I absolutely discouer my selfe I see nothing but death and malediction hang ouer my head my conscience rising vp against mee for a iudge and testimonie of mine iniquities But when I behold on the other side thy infinite mercie which surmounteth al thy other works and wherein if I may dare so to speake thou exceedest thy selfe my soule is then somewhat comforted And indeed why should I doubt to find grace in his sight that so often and gentlie calleth and summoneth sinners to repentance expresly protesting that hee desireth not the death of a sinner but that hee should bee conuerted and liue Moreouer thy onely Sonne hath so assured vs that wee shall finde grace in thy presence by the goodly parables which he himselfe propounded as of the mite of the lost sheepe and of the prodigall childe whose liuely image I acknowledge to be in my selfe as I should bee ingrate incredulous and verie wicked to recoyle and bee ashamed of thy presence though I be neuer so miserable seeing that thou puttest foorth thine hand with so mercifull an affection to drawe me to thee O louing Father I haue faintly forsaken thee I haue scattered thy graces most vnhappily in cleauing to the desires of my flesh and swaruing frō thy obedience I haue entangled my selfe in the base seruitude of sinne I am fallen into extreame miserie I knowe not whither to retire but to thee whom I haue forsaken Let thy mercie receiue thy poore suppliaunt whom during his error thou didst support I am vnworthy to lift vp mine eyes to thee or to call thee Father but I humbly beseech thee abase thine eyes to looke downe vpon me seeing thy pleasure is so and that otherwise I must needs fall into the power of thine enemies The regard of thy countenaunce will quicken and leade mee towards thee I already feele some effect therof seeing in some sort I plainly discouer my selfe I knowe thou doest beholde mee thou gauest me eyes to discerne the daungers wherein I stood thou diddest seek and finde mee out in the worlde and death and out of thy mercie hast graunted my desire to enter into thine house I dare not require that thou shouldest imbrace or kisse me or that thou shouldest weep for ioy in hauing found out thy poore seruant and slaue I look not for those precious ornaments wherwith thou honorest thy greatest seruaunts and best affected children it sufficeth mee to be in the troupe of the least in thine house amongst the greatest sinners that haue obtained pardon of thee and that are vouchsafed some retiring place in thy heauenly palace where ther are so many seuerall habitations And that euen in thy house I may be as the least that pleaseth thee so thou doe but auow mee thine owne for euer O mercifull Father I beseech thee for the loue of thy best beloued Sonne my onely Sauiour to vouchsafe mee thy holy Spirit for the cleansing of my heart and strengthening of mee after such a sort that I may alwayes remaine in thine house there to serue thee in righeousnesse and holinesse all the dayes of my life Amen Another WHat doe wee in this worlde but heape sinne vpon sinne So as the present day is euer somewhat worse than the day before and we neuer cease to draw vpon vs thy wrath and indignation But when wee shall be out of this worlde in thine inheritance wee shall bee wholly assured of perfect and eternall felicitie the miseries of the bodie being layd apart and the vices and contaminatiōs of the soule quight annihilated O heauenly Father encrease in vs thy faith that wee may cast no doubt of things so infallible Imprint thy grace and loue in our heartes for the raising vp fortifying of vs in thy fear And because thou hast seated vs in this worlde there to remaine so long as pleaseth thee without manifesting vnto vs the day of our departure which is only knowen to thy selfe I beseech thee take mee from hence when thou seest the fit time come and then to vouchsafe mee this fauour that I may willingly acknowledge the same and in the meane while that I may dispose of my selfe as thou hast ordained in thy most holy word Amen Another THis bodie is the soules prison and a prison that is obscure close and vncomfortable Wee are as banished men in this world and our life is but griefe and miserie But contrariwise O Lord it is in thy heauenly kingdome where we shall finde our libertie our naturall countrey and most perfect contentment Rowse vp our soules by thy Worde to the remembraunce and apprehension of such a good engraue in our hearts the desire of goods eternall and which onely are to bee sought after affoord our consciences some taste of this ioye wherewith the blessed in heauen are fully replenished that I may esteeme that which worldlings account so beautifull and so earnestly couet retaining the same with obstinate auarice and euen adoring it with such mad frenzie but filth and dyrte And procure that I feeling no taste but in thy veritie and grace calling continually vpon thy Name I may attend the day of my true deliuerance by IESVS CHRIST thy Sonne to whome with thee and the holie Ghost bee ascribed eternall glorie and prayse Amen Another LOrde IESVS the onely sauing health of the liuing and the eternall life of those that die I wholly submitte my selfe to thy will whether it shall please thee yet a little while to suffer this soule in my bodie to serue thee or that thou mindest to take it out of this prison I being assured whatsoeuer thou wilt preserue can not perish I am content with a very good heart that my bodie should returne to the earth out of which it was taken beleeuing in the last resurrection which shall make it immortall incorruptible and full of glorie I humbly beseech thee to strengthen my soule against all temptations couer me with the buckler of thy mercie to holde out Sathans dartes As for mee I am but weaknesse it selfe but yet I will relie on thy goodnesse and power I can alleadge nothing good before thee wherin to glorie but contrariwise alas my sins in infinite number accuse and torment mee but yet doe thy merits assure mee that I shall bee saued For I holde this for most certaine that thou wert borne for me that thou wert tempted and wert obedient to GOD the Father and that thou hast bought and purchased eternall life for mee Seeing therefore thou hast bestowed thy selfe on mee with all other thy benefites suffer not such a donation to prooue voide and vnprofitable Let thy blood wipe away the corruption of my offences and thy righteousnesse couer mine iniquities Let thy merites procure me grace and fauour before thy heauenly throne If my sinnes encrease augment thou also in mee thy grace that neither Faith Hope nor Charitie may growe dead but bee corroborated in mee that the apprehension of Death discourage mee not but euen when this my bodie shall bee as it were cleane dead cause the eyes of my soule to looke vp vnto heauen and let my heart then feruentlly crie out to thee and say O Lord I commend my soule into thy handes accomplish thine owne worke for thou diddest redeeme mee I am thine by thy Fathers gift to whome with thee and the holy Spirit bee giuen all glorie and prayse Amen FINIS AT LONDON Imprinted by H. L for Mathew Lownes and are to bee sold at his shoppe in Pauls Church-yarde at the signe of the Bishops head 1607.

IACOB also blessed the Patriarkes these benedictions can not bee referred to any further matter but to that which the benedicents considered in those whō they blessed or to their fatherly affection But here we neither see the one nor the other more then the priuiledge onely of death the benediction of him who dies being of such efficacie as the holy Prophet desired to be made partaker thereof Let vs meditate and consider well on this verse to the end that when wee see the poore man die we may assist him and euerie one of vs say the blessing of the dead come vpon me If we see any body sicke let vs not abandon him if hee bee forsaken of others let not vs drawe backe but let vs remember to desire that the benedictiō of the dead may come vpō vs. How many men hath this short verse procured to be blessed How often hath it made me blusn when I forgot the dying when I visited not the sicke when I despised the poore when I haue suffered the poore captiue to be oppressed in prison or when I contemned and neglected the auncient man Let this therefore bee deeply imprinted in our hearts for the spurring forwarde of the more dull and for the further encouragement of all those which are already in a good course Let the last wordes of a dying man resounde in thine eares and let his soule issuing out of his body carrie with it from thee this benediction Deliuer him that is ledde to die and who had perished without thy succour to the end thou mayest then iustly say to thy selfe The blessing of the dead light vpon mee CHAP. 9. That the soule perisheth not together with the bodie WHo can then make any doubt but that death is good seeing that which troubleth vs that maketh vs ashamed that is our enemie that which is violent tempestuous alluring to all vices remaineth then vnprofitable for the earth and as it were inclosed in an iron cage that is in the graue On the contrary Vertue Science Honor Iustice and Pietie flie vp to heauen the soule continues with immortall goodnesse being conioyned and dwelling in him Act 17. from whom shee had her being as one sayd very well that we are his line progeny For the rest it is most certain that the soule dies not with the body for it is not of the body as the Scripture proues by diuers reasons Gen. 2. Adam receiued from our Lord God the spirit of life was made a liuing soule And Dauid sayde Psal 116. My soule return to thy rest because the Lord hath done good vnto thee But wherein He hath sayd he deliuered my feete from destruction Thou seest how he reioyceth to be assured of this death wherein all error takes end where sinne and not nature faileth Afterwards being stripped and at full libertie as it were hee addeth I will please the Lord in the land of the liuing Heauen is the land of the liuing where foules haue repose and where sinnes enter not but where vertues haue their true force and vigor But the world is a region full of the dead because it is replenished with sinne and in all reason it was well sayd Mat. 8. Let the dead burie the dead It is sayd in another Psalme Psal 23. His soule shall lodge amidst riches and his seed shall haue the earth to their inheritance which is to say His soule that feareth God shall bee placed in the middest of riches and wealth so as it shall remaine neere amidst the same This may also be vnderstood of him that liues in the body who inhabiteth in the middest of riches conuerseth in celestiall places if he feare God possesseth his bodie and the soueraignty therof hauing brought it into seruitude briefly he enioyes the inheritance of glory and the promises of saluatiō If we would therefore bee placed amidst wealth and riches after the death of this body let vs take heede that our soule be not cōbined mingled nor vnited to this body for fear it drawe her out of the right way and make her stagger to fall like a drūken man being disturbed by the illusions of the same let her defie it and the recreations therof that she may not be ouer-ruled by the external senses For the eye may runne into errour and be fondly deceiued by reason this member may be mistaken the like may fall out to hearing and taste In summe it is not in vaine that the wise man saith vnto vs Let thine eyes beholde that which is right Prou. 4. let not thy tongue vtter peruerse things wherof we should not be admonished were it not that the senses erred very often If thou hast beheld a shamelesse woman hast been taken in her lookes or hast lusted after her as she was faire thine eyes haue looked astray they haue seene pernicious things and haue reported that vnto thee which they ought not to haue done For if they had behelde as they should they would haue discouered the villanous desires of this impudent woman her detestable impudencie her shamelesse immodestie her stinking ordures her infamous villanie the woundes of the soule and the scarres of the conscience Hee hath committed adulterie with a woman in his heart whome hee beheld at any time to desire her Thou seest that such an one sought after deceit in desiring the Adultresse and not truth because he desired to see to couet and not to vnderstand trueth The eye therefore lookes astray when the affection leaues the true path the which deceiues as the eye also doeth and therefore it was sayd vnto thee Bee not taken that is Let not thy soule be taken by thine eyes for a woman takes the precious soules of men Prou. 6. The hearing also deceiueth and by speach alluding vnto wantonnes hath often seduced abused and cousined euill instructed youth Let vs therefore defie these traps and snares which deceiue and surprise for hearts are tempted and thoughts intangled by the senses In stead of following these allurements let vs adhere to that which is good and prosecute it For the presence and communication thereof makes vs the better this company giues tincture and glosse vnto our maners for he which cleaueth to good drawes good there-from The soule that cleaues to the inuisible immortal good which is God flying abandoning frail earthly and mortall things becomes like vnto the good which she desires wherein she liues finds true nourishment so leaning to that immortall she is no more mortal The sinful soule dies not because she turns to nothing but in that she dies to God and liues to sin On the contrary the soule which workes not iniquitie dies not at all for she remaines still in her first substance afterwards in her full perfection and glory How can the substance therof perish seeing it is the soule that giues life he that receiues the soule receiues life and when the soule departs life flies

Out of the same Booke Of the meanes how to endure aduersity WHy doe so many euils happen vnto good men there can nothing occurre which is euill to a good man Contrary things mooue him not Hee esteems all aduersities as so many exercises Who is that honorable man which is not desirous of some noble and vertuous labour and euen with hazard and perill to go forward in honorable endeuours vertue pines and weares away if it haue not an opposite Then she appeares what she is of what value and what she is able to performe when by patience she discouers her puissance Let honest men therefore take euerie thing in good part and turne vnto good whatsoeuer happens vnto them It is all one what thou sufferest but how thou sufferest take great heed Seeest thou how fathers mothers sometimes intreate their children Fathers commaund their children to endeuor to go about a thing speedily they cannot endure that they should be idle no not on Holy Festiuall dayes and in briefe they often-times bring both sweat tears into their eies Contrariwise mothers they would haue thē alwayes vnder their noses in the chimny corner in the coole shade they would neuer haue them crie by their willes neuer afflicted annoyed or any wayes troubled God carries a Fathers heart towards honest men his is a more man-like loue he tosses and harries them vp and downe with trauaile griefe and losse to the ende they should purchase by this means true and powerful force But those bodies that we put out to grasse do not only faint vnder labour but they languish in idlenesse and vnder their owne burden and waight sinke and fall downe That felicitie which was neuer so much as shaken cannot stand out a geat storme Amongst many other singular sayings of our friend Demetrius this pleaseth mee well the which is alwaies fresh in my memorie soundeth as it were in mine eares I thinke no man saith hee more vnhappie than hee that neuer had anie aduersitie or euill Fortune The more labour and toyle the greater and truer honour Out of the same Booke Of Prosperitie PRosperitie falles out to the vulgar sort to base and abiect spirits but it is proper to a worthy famous man to subdue calamities whatsoeuer daunteth mortal mē I Iudge thee miserable in that thou neuer wert so vnfortunate in neuer meeting with any mishap Thou hast past al thy life without hauing an enemie no man by this can discerne of thy worth nor thou thy selfe of thine owne To knowe our selues wel it is needful to make some trial who can doe this that neuer came to proofe vertue desires danger and obserues to what it tends what the scope thereof is and not what shee must endure for to attaine to the same For euen her very indurāce is a great part of her glory A Pilot may bee well knowen in time of a tempest a souldier in the heat of battell How shall I knowe thy courage in resisting of pouertie as long as thou swimmest in wealth How may I discerne with what constancie of minde thou art able to withstand Infamie Ignominy and the peoples hate if thou wallowest in generall applause if an insupplantable fauour by a certain inclination of harts and affections prosecute thee perpetually Thy calamitie is a spurre vnto vertue whom God loues therefore those he proues he hardens he acknowledgeth hee visits he exerciseth Cōtrariwise those whom he seemes to flatter and spare he doth but weaken effeminate them for euils to come Why doth God afflict the better sort with sickenesse griefe and discommodities Why in a camp are the most perillous actions commited to the most couragious and valiant Why doe Captaines sende out choice souldiers to giue the enemie a Camisado to discouer a way to winne a passage and to driue them away that guarde the same There is none of them will say my Captaine hath done me wrong but rather hee holds mee in great esteem The same must they alleage that endure euils sent from God whereat cowards and effeminate men lament God thought vs worthy as in whom to make triall how much humane nature is able to suffer and endure Shun pleasures flie this feeble and effeminate felicitie which distempers intenerates the hart drowning it in a perpetuall drunken sleepe if sometimes there happen not another contrary accident to put him in mind of his humane conditition Ah is it not farre better to support a continuall infelicitie which inuiteth vnto vertue than to stoope vnder an infinite burdē of prosperities And therfore God deales with honest men as masters do with their schollers who set thē the greatest lesson taske of whom most hope is conceiued I pray you tell me Doe you thinke that the Lacedaemonians hated their children when they made such a triall of their nature and condition as to whip them publikely Their fathers themselues animated them to beare couragiously the ierkes of the whips and being lamentably lashed and halfe dead they yet requested them to adde lash vnto lash No maruell then though God tempt and hardly intreat the more generous spirits To bee in dayly daunger makes vs lightly esteeme the same Thus are the bodies of Mariners hardened vnto the Sea Thus growe knobs in the poore Labourers hands Thus are the souldiers armes trained vp to throwe a dart The members of those that runne made nimble to passe the race To conclude that part is strongest in any one that most is exercised There is not so firme nor solide a tree as that which the winde oftenest beateth vpon for by being thus beaten and blasted it knits together and spreadeth his rootes more firmely in the earth I remember also that I heard this couragious speach from Demetrius O immortall Gods sayd hee I complaine of you for this one thing that you made mee not sooner to vnderstand your will For I would haue come thither of my selfe whither I goe now but beeing sent Will you take away my children Why here they are Will you haue away one part of my bodie why take it freely It is no great matter which I promise for I must leaue it all ere it bee long Will you haue my soule Why not it belongs not to mee I will not hinder you from taking that which you haue giuen me you shal with heart good will haue whatsoeuer you demand But what then I had rather offer it my selfe than giue it when I am demanded what need you to haue taken it away from me You may indeede take it but you shall not take it from mee for nothing is taken away but from him that resists but I am not constrained I endure it not against my will herein I yeelde not to God but onely consent to his will The fire tries gold and mysery men of courage But why then doth God endure the iniuries done to good men Why quight cōtrarie hee doth not endure it He remoues all euils far

Lazarus died and was borne by the Angels into Abrahams bosome Iob 16.22 Verely verely I say vnto thee thou shalt be this day with mee in Paradise Lue. 23.43 They stoned Steuen who cryed out and sayd Lord Iesus receiue my spirit Acts. 7.59 Wee know whē the earthly habitation of this our body is destroyed wee haue a building in God which is to say an eternall māsion in heauen which is not made with handes 2. Cor. 5.1 I am enclosed on all sides my soule longing to remoue and be with Christ which would be farre better for mee Philip. 1.23 The Soule of man is immortall LEt dust returne to the earth frō whēce it was taken and let the soule mount vp vnto God who gaue it Eccles 12.7 Feare not those that kill the bodie and cannot kill the soule but feare him that can send both bodie and soule into hell fire Math. 10.28 I am the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob God is not the God of the dead but of the liuing Math. 22.32 He that beleeueth in me though hee were dead yet shall hee liue Iohn 11.25 Testimonies of the Resurrection of the body I Knowe my Redemer liueth and that in the last day he will take me out of the earth and I shall bee clad againe with my skin and thou my flesh shalt see God Iob 19.25 26. Many of those that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to eternall life others to perpetual shame Daniel 12.2 As concerning the resurrection of the dead haue you not read what God said vnto you I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob He is not the God of the dead but of the liuing Matth. 23.31 32. The day commeth wherin all those that are in the graues shal heare the voice of the Sonne of God Iohn 5.28 Martha said vnto him I know that he shall rise again in the last day Ioh. 11.24 If we preach that Christ is raised from the dead how doe some amongst you say that there is no resurrectiō of the dead 1. Cor. 15.12 Looke ouer all that Chapter What shall come to passe after the resurrection of the body in the last day WHē this corruptible shall haue put on incorruption this mortall immortality then shal those words which are written bee fulfilled Death is swallowed vp in victorie 1. Cor. 15.54 They which are dead in Christ shall first rise and afterwardes those that liue and remaine shall bee taken vp together with them into the clowds before the Lord in the ayre so wee shall be alwayes with the Lord. 1. Thes 4.16 17. When the Sonne of man shall come in glory and all the holy Angels with him then shal he sit vpon his throne of glory And all the nations shall be assembled before him and he shall separate the one from the other as the sheepherd doeth distinguish the sheepe from the goates and hee will set the sheepe on his right hand and the goates on the left Then shall the heauenly king say vnto those on his right hand Come you blessed of my Father inherite that kingdome which was prepared for you before the beginning of the world To them then on the left hand hee will say Goe you accursed depart frō me into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the diuell and his angels And so they shall goe into eternall torments but the Iust shall be taken into eternall life Matth. 23.31 c. Prayers and Meditations concerning Life and Death Meditation 1. THE life of a Christian man should bee imployed in the consideration of those things which here-vnder ensue to put them in practise that is to say oftentimes to remember the benefits he hath receiued frō GOD to thanke him with his hart mouth incessantly for the same to loue him who is boūtie and goodnes it selfe to feare and worship him seeing he is almightie and wise and so by the loue which they beare vnto God to be also excited to the loue of their neighbors The loue of God withdraweth vs from the loue of corruptible things raiseth vs vp to heauen and enflames our hearts with holinesse of life The loue of our neighbour holds vs backe from all preiudice either in will or deede and excites vs to integritie and benificence Another LEt vs often think on that which we are The soule is our principall part which is endowed with vnderstanding reason and iudgement to knowe the chiefe good which is in God to loue adhere and be vnited vnto him to be partakers of his immortallitie and happinesse But wee contemne this Soueraigne good to grouell on the earth and to slampe into the ditch of carnall desires applying the vigor and force of our vnderstanding and iudgements to things which are not worthy of the paines wee take about them Wee burie our selues aliue if wee may so say of celestiall we become terrestriall and of men created for eternall life wee endeuour as much as in vs lieth to bee like to the brute beastes themselues And yet our most merciful and good God forsaketh vs not for all this notwithstāding that our ingratitude deserue as much but by his word in the meane while he graciously calleth vs and presenteth vs with infinite testimonies of his louing fauour dayly he continueth the fame hee supporteth vs hee exhorteth he counselleth aduiseth and fatherly chastiseth vs and yet for all this wee remaine blinde deafe and stupide contemning these graces either in not vsing them as we should or else in abusing of them And which is worse wee loue vaine and transitorie thinges better and are too intentiue and perseuerant in the same God reacheth forth his hand to conduct vs but we draw backe our owne and flie away when he calleth vs. If he bring vs into the way of saluation we mourne for the world wee looke behinde vs we deferre and procrastinate our desire of well doing We must therefore rouse vp our selues not remain still in the myre we must be fortified in his vertue and power who supports cōforts vs let vs a little attempt to despise corruptible things and to desire those truly good and eternall when God calleth vs we must hearken to him if hee bee our guide wee must followe him for to arriue in his house Let vs receiue his benefites and himselfe too for hee giues himselfe vnto vs in the person of his Son hee causeth vs to see the meanes how to come into heauen wee must therfore require of him that hee will vouchsafe to bestowe vpon vs wil and desire to come thither by faith repentance hope and charirie and to maintaine his gifts and graces in vs to the end that we may mourne in this mortall life attend in the assurance of his mercie for the ende of this world and our last day which shall bee the beginning of our true life A Meditation and a Prayer HOw great are the delusions and impostures of the enemie of