Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A08275
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A good companion for a Christian directing him in the way to God, being meditiations and prayers for euery day in the weeke; and graces before and after meate.
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Norden, John, 1548-1625?
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1632
(1632)
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STC 18609; ESTC S119834
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97,176
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420
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practising it conscionably they may at thy hands through Christ Iesus obtaine the remission of their sins past and receiue from thy diuine Maiesty confirming and comforting grace for the time to come power to preseuer and continue thy seruants vnto their dying daies Giue them light instead of darkenesse peace for trouble and eternall happinesse instead of worldly felicitie that tasting the sweetnesse of celestiall comfort they may despise terrestriall and after this life ended in ioy inioy the perfect ioyes of eternall glory through Iesus Christ my Lord and blessed Sauiour Amen A Prayer after the Word heard O Gracious Lord of thy bountifull goodnesse thou hast through thy Sonne Iesus Christ sent for my learning and vnspeakeable comfort thy word of truth the Gospell which none can learne but by hearing and none can heare but by preaching and none can preach except they be sent I humbly beseech thee therefore to giue me thy grace that as I haue heard thy word at this time by thy minister and messenger so I and all that haue heard may know and vnderstand the same retaine and practice it according to thy heauenly will that I may thereby grow in knowledge increase in grace and bee a liuely instrument of thy glory vnto my liues end Amen A short prayer for willingnesse to dye and a preparation vnto Death O God in whose hands consisteth the life of all mankind for thy Sonne Iesus Christ his sake vouchsafe to giue me grace to set before mine eyes as a most certaine marke whereto this fraile body of mine must tend by death this being to the faithfull the end of paine and the beginning of pleasure but to the secure and gracelesse the ending of temporall blisse and felicity and the in-let or entrance vnto eternall torments weeping wayling and gnashing of teeth Giue mee therefore good Lord an earnest desire of seruing thee and leading my life agreeable to thy will that whensoeuer it shall please thee to call for me by death I be not through feare stricken with any horror of damnation and doubt of saluation that at my last gaspe I may neuer cast away my confidence nor my hope of reioycing but through a liuely faith in Iesus Christ I may rest vpon him the corner stone and sure rocke of my saluation and so depart this life in peace and in a ioyfull expectation of a blessed resurrection and be content to lay downe this mortality of mine to receiue it in the day of Christ a spirituall and glorified body that then being euer with my Lord I may with all thy saints sing a continuall Alleluiah to the praise and glory of my redeemer and Sauiour Amen A short prayer for competency of maintenance O Lord my God the maker and preseruer of Angels men and all creatures infinite in thy power and wonderfull in thy loue vnto all the sonnes of men Thou hast promised neuer to faile those that attend and depend vpon thee Thou openest thine hands and fillest all things liuing with plenteousnesse neuer suffering any of thine to perish for want that carefully seeke reliefe and comfort from the disposition of thy most gracious bounty and beneficent goodnesse suffer mee not to want necessaries for this present life nor those things without the which I cannot comfortably serue thee in the duties of christian calling enable me to liue without distracting cares to this end blesse my labours and endeauours that I may haue sufficient for me and mine and not be chargable vnto any but rather able to doe good vnto others that may stand in need of refreshing from me Giue mee neither pouerty nor riches feed me with food conuenient for me lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord or lest I be poore and steale and take the name of my God in vaine Afford me that portion of temporall blessings health wealth maintenance as thou in thy wisdome shalt think conuenient and behoofefull for me not so much for delectation and satisfying of the flesh with the concupiscences thereof as for sustentation of this mortall life of mine and consolation of my heart and spirits and making of them more ioyous and chearefull in thy worship and seruice Let neither ouermuch pouerty oppresse mee that I be driuen to vse meanes contrary to thy Law nor too great a saturity fulnesse and plenty so pâ—ste me vp that I forget the goodnesse of thee my God or fall into any the least riotous excesse as if thou hadest hired mee by thine abundant blessing to grow the more wanton and vicious O God as thou art of ability and power so thou art willing to succour such as bee in want to relieue the oppressed to comfort the afflicted to raise the lowly and to aid the needy and therefore sweet Lord I humbly craue thy fauourable assistance towards me to blesse my store and replenish my basket with thy blessings that I may be able to liue in thy Faith Feare and Loue and out of the depth of misery and danger of all men through Iesus Christ Amen A short prayer to vse wealth as we ought O God almighty the giuer of all good things thou art my stay my comfort and only guide direct me I pray thee to imploy that talent which thou hast bestowd upon me for the aduantage and aduancement of thine owne glory Lord thou hast beene abundantly gracious and bountifull vnto me and hast blest my store and increase with wealth insomuch that I haue not only that which sufficeth mine owne necessity but haue also sufficient to releeue others in time of their neede Giue mee therefore a will to disperse a broad and giue vnto the poore according to the aboundance of my wealth to feede the hungry to clothe the naked and minister vnto thy distressed Saints that I may not liue vnto my selfe but for the helpe of all those that want my furtherance that I may lay vp in store a good foundation against the time to come and bee found of thee in peace inioying life and saluation through Iesus Christ Amen A prayer for a woman with childe O Mercifull God and omnipotent Father and creator of all things who in the beginning diddest place mankind in most unspeakeable happinesse where they should haue continued had not our first parents broke thy diuine precept and charge giuen them in paradise and thereby procured most iustly thy wrath and indignation against themselues and their posterity for euer so that the earth for their sakes was accursed denying things necessary for their vse without great labour paines and industry And vnto vs the daughters of Eue for our transgression thou hast adiudged most grieuous paines and torments of body in the trauaile of child-birth saying that in sorrow and great paines we shall bring forth our fruit A heauy sentence thou knowest it is O Lord and we feele it to take sharpe effect in vs but sweet Lord for as much as thou art mercifull bringest all things to passe
stead of thine atteÌ„dants men seruants maid seruants c. thou shalt haue for thine attendants Iobs sisters brothers wormes to attend and affect thee euen as friends affect friends as long as they can be each to other friendly So as long as the wormes can find in thy dead flesh wheron to feede they wil be thy companions But when the substance of thy body is spent they will leaue thy bare bones to thy mother Rottenesse the end of all flesh And therefore set thine house in order for this must be the certaine end of thine vncertaine mortall life Many perplexe themselues to make them they know not rich MAke not thy selfe more miserable then by striuing to aduance thy posterity to greatnesse and so expose thy selfe to the losse of heauen And flatter not thy selfe with a vaine conceit that it is thy glory to get riches and possessions for thy children with the losse of an eternall inheritance to thy selfe Who are chiefly to be cared for and how far THou art no further bound than to haue a fatherly care of thy family Among the rest thy wife and children are most to be respected for whom thou oughtest to prouide things necessary to maintaine and to sustaine them otherwise indeed thou art to be condemned as an vnbeleeuer But to couet and to vse forbidden nay too solicitous meanes to make thy children great or thy friends after thee rich is not commanded but forbidden Many seeke to secure their posterities in their possession more than their owne assurance of heauen MAny seeke to purchace and to set and settle lands as surely as can be deuised by grauest counsell for the more security of their children after their death to the end they should remaine in their names from one generation to another and lawfull yet not laudable retaining least assurance or security in the meane time vnto themselues of an inheritance immortall after their deaths Notwithstanding their great and spacious possessions here which were a good meane to enable a man to doe the works of charity commanded by God lawfully gotten which the poore haue not Euill gotten goods seldome continue to many generations IF they haue been ill gotten or ill kept they seldome continue to the third generation sometimes not to the second And yet many men couet in their worldly wisedome to preâ—ent if it were possible the very counsel of God himselfe by limiting and entailing their lands and possessions sometimes to ten sâ—cceeding generations intending to perpetualize their names and estates to the end of the world And yet it is seene and daily obserued that as humane policy hath found out this vncertaine deuice of limiting their possessions to such as perchance may be vnborne a hundred yeares after such a deuice is made So like policy hath found out a meane to frustrate the same euen by the same Law by which it was in conceit made strong and irreuocable And sometimes God in his wisedome and secret iudgement alters and turnes the deuices of men cleane contrary to their intentions God disposeth of all earthly inheritance WHen Iosephâ— intended to haue preferred Manasses his first borne to whom by course of inheritance the first place belong'd before Ephraim his secoÌ„d sonne God so directed the heart and the hand of Iaakob in blessing them which then had great force working with the will of God he preferred Ephraim his second before Manasses the first borne So God gaue Isaaks inheritance to Iaakob the younger before Esau the the elder shewing how vncertaine the issue is of the purpose of man touching the making of his heire though it be a part of the setting of thy house in order before thou dye No counsell against the Lord. THere is no counsell against oâ— without the Lord man may purpose this or that child shal be his heire and inherite his Land or this or that friend shall enioy his goods but the disposition is in God who alters the purpose of man euen as he will to shew that the wisedome of man is indeed but foolishnesse without God How men ought to guide their affections in preferring their children or friends IT is not yet vnlawfull for men to respect one sonne or one child or one friend before and aboue another and to haue a desire to preferre one before another to enioy their Lands and goods after them So they respect the preferring the glory of God and that with prayer before their owne naturall affection Namely where they find one more inclinable to vertue to the feare and seruice of God than another to preferre such before them that haue only naturall endowmeÌ„ts as feature as beauty priority of birth wit and comlinesse like Absalom and meere carnall inclinations for the more fauour fathers shew and the more meanes they heape vpon such in making them great or rich the more they will run into riot as is obserued in too many in this corrupt age which breeds scaÌ„dal to the father in so disposing his wealth when he is in his graue And the more dishonor vnto God that lent the meanes and argues no direct setting of his house in a Christian order before he dyed Many rather couet to aduance their posterities to wealth here than themselues to glory heereafter MANY men plainely shew that they loue the world their vncertaine posterity and their owne vaine glory more deerely than they loue their owne soules By so abundantly prouiding to make their posterity great themselues famous some rather infamous after their deaths Can a man be thought to loue his owne soule when he aduentures it in getting superfluous and forbidden meanes to inrich and to make them great whom he knowes not whether they wil be good or euill And to that vncertaine end to hoord vp and to keep riches doing good to none vntill they must needes leaue them Esau more to be excused than some miserable rich men ESau sold his birth right indeed for a messe of potage only to refresh the necessity of his fainting spirit and is more to be excused than they that sell their soules more precious than all the Kingdomes that Sathan tempted Christ withall for the superfluous aduaÌ„cement of them whom they truly know not And yet when they haue gotten much and disposed it to whom they list before they dye they are farre from the setting of their houses much lesse of their souls in good order before they die Jt is lawfull to possesse lands and goods IT is not denied neither doth any scripture inhibite men to haue and enioy possessions lands and goods be they by descent gift or purchace and to leaue them to their children For God hath from the beginning lent these inferior things of the earth to the sonnes of men and alloweth the vse of them lawfully gotten so they be godly vsed and rightly disposed for he that disposeth them without good warrant runs before the counsell of of God as in worldly wisedome or vaineglorious desires many doe to