Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	creature_n	heaven_n	world_n	8,020	5	4.5844	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A00389	Preparation to deathe A booke as deuout as eloquent, compiled by Erasmus Roterodame.; De praeparatione ad mortem. English	Erasmus, Desiderius, d. 1536.	1538 (1538)	STC 10505; ESTC S116245	47,189	110

were borne and after baptyme more vnhappely fallen into agayn an heuy burdein and suche a burdeyne as causeth alsoo the soule to synke downe to the bottome of hel This burdeyne whiche was to vs importable our lorde vouche safed to take vpō him as Esay prophecied The correction of our peace vppon hym and by his wounde we be healed Also Thapostle God made hym which dyd no synne to be a synne forvs that we might be made the iustice of god through hym Synne is thouely thynge that gendreth hatredes betwixt god and man as Esay testifieth But the mercyful father whā no sacrifyce coulde be founde sufficient and stronge ynoughe to wasshe of the synnes of mankynde sent his sonne a lambe without blemyshe or spot with this most pure oblation of sacrifyce reconcylynge the worlde vnto him A man wyl here say If by Christ synne is taken awaye how is it than that al the lyfe of manne is thus replenysshed with synne For nowe I speke of good men to He toke not clerely away syn but he brake the strengthes of it not that there shuld be no synne in vs but that it shulde not reygne in vs as it reygneth in them whiche haue not fyxed the ancore of their hope in the lorde Jesu but serue and folowe their sensuall appetites And therfore Paule aduertyseth vs to beware that synne reygne not in our mortall body There is left vnto vs a mattier wherin to fyghte but yet armours weapons be ministred vnto vs with whyche we beynge defensed maye ouercome So we be made the iustice of God not by our owne workes but through the grace of god By whom By hym whom he made a synne for vs and of synne cōdemned synne ¶ Yet remayneth Satanas the parēt both of synne and of deth prince of these darknesses whose power and malicious craftes neuer ceassynge the children of lyght fere cryenge with a tremblynge herte to the father Ne nos inducas c. Leade vs not into temptation but delyuer vs frome that euyll myght This is that temptour and accusor of brethern which after the sayeng of saynt Peter renneth about as a rorynge lyon sekynge whom he may deuour But the lorde hathe not onely ouercome but alsoo hathe taught vs to ouercome the assaultes of this euyll also He oftetymes assayled our lorde for that may be gatherid of Lukes wordis which sayth And he departed from hym for a tyme but he departed alwayes vanquysshed How vanquysshed With the bucklar of scriptures repelled with the swerde of goddes worde stryken throughe Wherfore so ofte as he maketh suggestion and attēpteth vs to the thynge which is merely contrary and repugnant to the wyll diuine expressed in the sacre and holy volumes cast a foyne at hym with the swerde of goddes worde and accordynge to the ensample of kynge Dauyd with fyue most clere and radyant stones gathered out of the ryuer of scriptures fel y e knaue down to the groūde But before we ioyne handes with this gyaunt Solyath let vs first caste frome vs the armours of Saul which is the cote armour of pride that is the truste of worldly wysedome the confydence of our strength and merytes whiche lade vs rather than arme vs let the staffe of faith be sufficient for vs whiche comforteth steyeth vs in this our peregrination and the fyue wordes which Paule speaketh in the churche If he be to busy and call vpon the to importunely byd hym auaunt Satanas and stande abacke It is more right to obey god callynge to euerlastynge felycitie rather than the entysing to eternall destruction Here dothe faythe playe the chiefe and principall parte And therfore saith Peter Whom resyst ye strong in fayth Gyue credence to scriptures and repose thy holle trust in Christ and victory is at hande But there is a kynde of dyuels which is not cast forthe but by prayer fastyng sayth Christ. To here thou hast other two weapons It is probable and a thynge lykely that Satanas where as he so ofte had assauted our lord in vayne in the crosse assayed and moued al his craftis subtilties and engens whan he sawe hym approching to his deth For this is the last conflict and batayle by the profe and chaunce wherof eyther eternall triumphe is hoped and loked for or a perpetuall shame is awayted For he sayth The prince of this world came vnto me and in me he founde nothinge Nor it is no doubt but that which he entreprised vpon the lorde he dare entreprise also vpon the membres of the lorde But in lykewyse as he was vanquyshed of hym so throughe hym he shall be vanquyshed in vs. For whā he assayleth them in whom Christ by fayth and charitie doth inhabite and dwel he maketh batayle with Christ hym self in whom so longe as we perseuer and abyde he shall take a fowler fall and be more shamefullye vanquysshed of vs than he was ouercome of our lorde hym selfe All thynges can I do quod the Apostle in hym which enstrenghteth me Satanas with whom our conflict is is called the prince of this worlde not that he hath any auctorite or iurisdiction ouer any parte of the creature but bycause in a maner he raigneth in those which be lo uers of this worlde But he whiche protecteth and defendeth vs is lorde of heuen of erth which with his onely becke can do more than all the swarmes and rabyll of dyuels with all their instrumentis lymmes Onely he coulde entre the howse of that stronge one and bynde hym hand and fote and bereue hym of his vessels ¶ What temtations do yet remayne Deth death I saye at whose mention all thynges waxe heuy This neyther with force can be shyfted of neyther with fleynge eschued neyther with craft and subtyl meanes dalyed awaye The firste affection of nature is that euery thinge shuld defende it self But death against this affection of nature thretneth destructiō which so moch is the more detestable and to be abhorred that it diuydeth ii which be most conioyned and knyt togyther For there is no strayter copulation or knot than is of the body and soule This horrour and fere also our lord of his moste tender mercye hath mitigate and asswaged vnto vs. First in that he for our sakes dysdayned not the horrour and tremblynge of death and death it selfe yea and that sclanderous and shameful and also bitter to take vppon hym Nor he wolde not that any of his sayntes of the holy men were they neuer so excellynge in vertuous lyuynge shulde be free and be enfraunchysed against deathe not Abraham the faythfull not Moyses famylyarly beloued not Dauyd a manne accordynge to his harte not any of the prophetes not John Baptist of whom remaineth so noble a testimonie of our lord hym selfe not his mother sin gularly beloued not so moch as that one of his disciples whom before all the reste he loued entierly Euen from the fyrst man vntyll the

haue left behynd them and howe moch remaineth to the marke And in tymes past they that loked for the Iubilie knewe howe longe they might enioy that that they had bought But there is no mortall man whiche certainely knoweth that he shall lyue vntyll the nexte day We renne but hauynge deathe in oure fete yea carieng it aboute on all our body We haue receiued our life frely of the lord but condicionally that we surrender it at euery moment whan he demandeth it Howe though it chanceth vs to liue vntil extreme age whiche to how fewe it chaunceth euery man knoweth O lorde god what is the hole lyfe of man but a very short rennynge place wherin wyl we wyl we not we renne contynuallye slepe we wake we be we in welth or in wo The contynuall course of the worlde carieth vs away lyke a boystous flode although we seme to our selues or to other to stand styl Than if prices of world ly thynges be estemed by the shortenes of tyme howe moche more vyle oughte tho thynges to be whiche haue not so moch as one howre certayne Nowe the thynges that we lyttelle regarde we lyttelle force though they be plucked awaye from vs as they why che be not at home but in strange countreys if any cōmoditie appereth vnto them in the way or in theyr ynnes they cast not their mynd greatly therto bicause they must leue forth with the thing that delyteth them and if any incōmodite chaunce them they beare it easely thinkyng thus Here I dine my supp is ordeined in an other place The thinges that be sene sayth Paule be tēporall and tho that be not sene be eternall And this is a greate parte of the Christen philosophie whiche prepareth vs to dethe that by the contemplation of thinges eternall and heuenly we maye lerne the despisynge of temporall and erthly Plato iuged the hole philosophy none other thynge but a meditation of deathe He callyd a meditation a preparation as who shuld say an exercyse to death none otherwyse thā a yong warriour that shal in time commynge fyght with his ennemy exercyseth hym selfe at a tylte Whiche is a ryghte holsome saying if that whiche is spoken of the philsopher philosophically be taken of christen men christēly For not the contemplation of mathematicall formes abstracte from the mattiers nor yet the imagination of Idee whiche Plato deuysed causeth vs to dye wel but if with the eies of feithe we consider in our mindes the goodes passyng al mans wyt whiche god hath promised by his son Jesus to them that trust vnto hym the euils which he hath thretnid to infidels disobedient Thone shal feare vs from sinning the other shal prouoke vs to do wel I grant an eternall veritie in certayn humayn lerninges but suche as procureth to no man the true felicitie But here the promiser is euerlastinge euerlastyng is he by whom he promiseth euerlasting be the thinges ꝓmysed euerlastinge felicitie they brynge to the beleuers euerlasting infelicitie to the despisers This meditation of deth is the meditation of the true life And it causeth not only that the philosopher promiseth which is that the soule shulde depart from the bodye with lesse heuynesse but also that with cherefulnes of hart it shuld lepe merily as it were out of a darke and painful prison into blessed libertie into that light so louely which is void of any nyght or darknes For the body whiche is corruptible accombreth the soule and the erthely habitation depresseth the mynd reuoluing many thynges And therfore crieth the ꝓphete Lede out of prison my soule that it may cōfesse thy name Lorde The summe of mans felicitie is to contemplate and prayse his maker redemer gouernour To this end is man created This felicitie of man is oftentymes disturbed by the weakenes of this body which we cary aboute subiecte to so many necessities to so many euyls to so many peryls In like wyse also saynt Paule accombred with the carnall habytation pytyfully syghynge crieth O I vnhappy man who shall delyuer me frō this body of deth For he saw them in high blysse whiche dwelled in the house of the lorde pray synge hym worlde without ende Of this affection be men of the ryght holynes of whome though the bodyes kepe in erth yet their treasure harte and conuersation is in heuens But few men haue this perfection and strongenes of mynde It is not gyuen to al men to say with Paul Christ to me is lyfe and to dye is a lucre And I couet to be dissolued and be with Christe We beinge our selues weake prepare this consolation to them that be weake vnto whom yet thexamples of the perfyte lyuers be as who saith prickes and prouocations to obteyne the strength of the spirite Wherfore this meditation of dethe is through out all the lyfe to be exercysed and euer amonge the sparke of feyth is to be styred vp that it may encreace and gather strēgth to whom charytie annexed shall drawe vnto it hope whiche neuer maketh his maister ashamed But we haue none of these oure selfes but they be the gyftes of god with contynuall prayers and vowes to be vowed for if they lacke and if we haue them to be augmentid that they may encreace The stronger that feyth accompanied with Hope and Charitie is the lesse is the tremblynge For that most part of vs thus abhoire from the men tion of death it commeth commonly of the vnstedfastnes of fayth But on the promises of god ought man to haue moste certain trust For he is onely he whiche of nature true can not deny hym selfe To whom the noble psalmograph syngeth Euerlastingely lorde thy worde abydeth In heuen worlde without ende is thy trouth which also in the Euangel pronounceth of hym selfe Heuen and erthe shall passe but my wordes shal not passe What hath he promysed He hathe promysed vyctorye of deathe vyctorye of fleshe of the worlde and of the dyuell He hath promysed remission of synnes he hath promysed an hundrede tymes as moche in this worlde euerlastyng lyfe in the next But in what wyse hathe he promysed By our owne ryghtwysenes No truely but by grace of faythe whiche is vpon Christ Iesus And to the entent we shulde be the surer he hath annulled cancelled that fyrst handwrityng whiche Adam vnhappily had described vnto vs naylynge it to the crosse and hath giuen vs his handwriting of grace whiche he hath scaled with his owne blod and hath confirmed it with innumerable testimonies of prophetes apostels martyrs and virgins whiche with their blode alsoo haue subscribed And the vnyuersal church of Christen men and holy fathers also haue subscribed He hath more ouer added the erneste penye of the spirite that our truste shulde wauer in no part And the goodnesse of god not cōtented with these hath vouchesafed to shewe vnto all men an euidente and notable example in his onely begotten sonne