Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	consequence_n	death_n	slavish_a	18	3	15.8534	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05382	The historie of the defendors of the catholique faith Discoursing the state of religion in England, and the care of the politique state for religion during the reignes of King Henrry 8. Edward. 6. Queene Marie. Elizabeth. And our late souereigne, King Iames. ... With all, declaring by what means these kings & queenes haue obtained this title, defendor of the faith, and wherein they haue deserued it ... By Christopher Lever.	Lever, Christopher, fl. 1627.; Hulsius, Friedrich van, b. 1580, engraver.	1627 (1627)	STC 15537; ESTC S108541	141,977	384

would appeare most glorious Sixthly Againe the variable change of mans life whereby he is violently carried to many disagreeing ends sometime to the better sometime to the worse according to the seuerall power of occasions insomuch as in this respect a man is like a vessell at Sea driuen with many contrarie windes too and fro alwaies in the extremities of storme and wearie passage neither can any man ariue his peacefull port before death bring him to his graue his life being nothing but a breath of contrarie windes bearing him to indure the misery of many hard and variable fortunes And this euill is most sensible to those vnto whom Fortune hath bene most gratious who enioying the pleasures of life with full appetite and by the change of fortune forced to change that state wherin they thought themselues most happie For then is aduersity in full strength being in him whose former life hath bene most prosperous for the common induring of bitternes and misery dulleth the edge thereof and maketh it by much lesse sensible to him whome Custome hath made familiar with griefe neither are mens natures so inclineable to the good as to the bad alteration it being generall in all men to moue themselues to their owne destruction the motion to perfection not being our owne but the worke of Grace which onely hath the glorie of euery good worke Seuenthly It were needlesse to giue particular instance of this mutability of fortune euery particular man hauing instance in himselfe to witnesse it and for those of extraordinary glory and greatnesse we may remember that Romane Conquerour who passing the streets of Rome in the glorie of his Triumph had his braines beaten forth with a Tyle which by casualty fell vpon him or that of better memorie the Duke of Somerset the occasion of this discourse who from the highest degree of a Subiect fell into the ignominie of Treason and vntimely timely death And therefore the antient Romanes vnderstanding ●he miserie of variable fortune ordained that when any of their worthy Captaines should ride in triumph a slaue should ride with him in his triumphall Chariot holding fast with his slauish hand the lawrell Crowne vpon the Conquerours head who then did triumph both to moderate the vaine glory of the Conquerour and also to remember him to what condition he himselfe was subiect and therefore in respect of mutability of fortune is mans life most miserable no man being able to secure himselfe in any reasonable condition of life Eighthly But that which of all other is most burdensome is Discontent the disease of the soule and that which of all other infirmities is most dangerous and hard to cure especially in spirits of best apprehension and in them who haue aspired the reputation of high place For the spirits of great men are not moued to impatience without dangerous euents because their anger maketh them willing and their greatnes maketh them able to reuenge And therfore such men are neuer discōntent but it prouoketh either their owne or other mens destruction neither is this euill tied to particular men onely but like a generall Plague it spreads it selfe ouer all degrees of men though not in like vehemencie For the best and the worst the basest and the most noble haue at some time their discontents whereby they are offended in themselues and wish to die and that which is more admirable those men renowned for holinesse of life haue had this loathing to liue and desired to die as Iob Elias and many other holy men which may well conclude the misery of a discontented minde and how insupportable it is in his extremity for as the soule exceedeth the body in the excellencie of their Natures So the grieuances of the soule are much more sensible to our faculties then those of our bodies because griefe is properly belonging to the soule and to the body onely by consequence or participation And if I were to define the greatest miserie on earth next to that of hell sin and damnation I should call it discontent in his extremitie because next the sorrow of sinne the liuing part of man his soule hath not any thing of like torment and affliction and as all other miseries are the seed from whence doth proceed this Monster Discontent So from discontent can be expected no better then destruction and death Ninthly The last misery of our life is Death the which at one stroake doth reuenge all the euill of mans life and this howsoeuer in it selfe it be not euill yet in mens generall vnderstanding it is thought the worst of all euills and the most fearefull of all other miseries And therefore the very name of death hath oftentimes stroake astonishment and terror in the hearts of tyrants and euill men knowing that death was an enemy against whom there was no resistāce hauing preuailed against them of the first age though they liued many hundreds of yeares For if the honours and pleasures of this life were infinite and the enioyers of them eternall then were not the life of man so miserable a condition but hauing death to controule the most glorious among men and to depriue them of their prosperity and honours in this respect the best of mans life is no better then misery and griefe because he foreseeth the end of all his prosperity the remembrance of death sowring the greatest part of the pleasures of life euerie man hauing griefe to loose that wherein he so much delighteth Tenthly Yet Death though his power be geuerall ouer all flesh is not therefore a misery to all men but to many an end most happie and desired For though it be a curse for sin to be mortall die yet is Death most happie to them that die well God by the death of his Sonne hauing reconsiled himselfe to his seruant Man which by no other meanes could be made immortall But this condition of happinesse is not in the Nature of Man but in the fauour and grace of God And therfore is death that which good men hope and bad men feare the poore mans comfort and the rich mans terror and that which maketh the King and the Subiect the rich and the poore equall making of euery mans flesh but earth and putrifaction And therefore the life of man euen from the wombe to the Graue is nothing but misery and vexation of Sipirit no naturall man hauing the pleasures thereof but with such limitation as maketh pleasure it selfe burdensome Eleuenthly The holy and good men of the world not otherwise regarding life then as a time wherein to exercise their Christian offices and to such there is no miserie neither in life nor death happie are such to whom God shall giue Grace to dispise the vaine glorie of earth and that vse the creatures of God with christian moderation not

worke no creature is able certainely to determine what will be before it be all things in respect of humane indgement being iudged by their euents and not otherwise Secondly and therefore is calculating and the iudgement of Astrologie vncertaine and a very mockery hauing neither lawfulnesse nor Truth to giue it authority And though the Diuiner sometime hit the truth hee doth it not by any certaine direction but by hap and at peraduenture and so the blinde may hit the Butt and the reporter of many lies may fortune to tell a truth Thirdly and this false fore-iudging is of ordinary custome in the vse of all worldly affaires euery man almost aduenturing to Iudge before hand of euery accident and to determine how God shall determine of such and such occasions whereby they would tie God to a necessity and that needs hee must doe that which in their weake iudgement they imagine will bee done But God who is most absolute and able to doe whatsoeuer shall please himselfe deludeth the vaine imaginations of men and out of the greatest vnlikelihoods can hee frame that which is most desired and least hoped neither is hee as man to iudge by apparance or by the consequence of humane reason but out of death can he raise life out of miserie mercie and in the greatest expectation of warre blood and persecution can he giue peace safetie and preseruation Fourthly Wee haue happie instance of this in the fortunes of the Kings Maiestie that last was King Iames our Souereigne whom God most gratiously and beyond all expectation did protect making him fortunate to the honour of his owne name and for the happinesse of these Nations combining by him two euer disagreeing nations in the neerest bonds of Loue and Brotherhood And this did God make prosperous beyond our hopes and beyound the euill desires of them who loued vs not For if we remember the latter time of Queene Elizabeths reigne and the hard condition of those times we shall then finde how much the mercie of God hath exceeded our hopes and how much the generall opinion was deceiued in the construction of that euent men generally expecting the miserie of warre and ciuill strife when God did reach vs his mercie and the large demonstration of his loue Fifthly And in truth in respect of likely hood both Nations England and Scotland had reason to haue feared more and hoped lesse then happened it being not likely to succeed as it did and that a people inueterate in quarrell and warlike contention should in such peaceable manner shake hands and conspire mutually one thing which for many hundreds of yeares before did euer disagree which is more in a matter so important as was the vniting of both kingdomes in the gouernement of one absolute Souereigne Neither was it likely there wanted then the practise of forreigne States especially of such as enuied our prosperity and loued vs not which might trauell to hinder this happie coniunction whereby our strength became double so much as before and therefore our enemies would couet rather to suppresse than to inlarge vs least we hauing the kingdome of Scotland to assist vs which before was commonly either enemie or newter might proue vnresistable in the fortune of warre who before we had it were so often Conquerours Sixthly And this assuredly was a matter very considerable for them to preuent and such as the Pollitique wisedome of States men would carefully apprehend For in the disoretion of State affaires it is better and of lesse difficultie to preuent the augmentation of our enemies power then when it is augmented to scatter it And those things in the opportunity of their times are of easie reach which afterwards in a time vnfit proue vnaccessable not within our compas and this Iudgement could not want in them who most carefully search the secrets of all pollicie and trauell their wits to apprehend and contriue all aduantages yet notwithstanding all these occasions which in common iudgement might haue letted the Kings peaceable entrance into this Kingdome did God bring him vnder the protection of his fauour in security and peace and with generall acclamation binding the enuie of all opposition and making his enemies shew themselues his friendly entertainers the antiēt enemies of this kingdom to congratulate his Kingly inheritance And this did God with such admirable demonstration of his fauour as that his Maiestie and his Subiects of both kingdomes haue good cause to remember it for euer most thankefully whose life God did wonderfully preserue and whose fortunes hee did highly aduance leading him thorow many difficulties and dangers to a faire inheritance to inherit the obedience and faithfull seruice of a people faithfull fortunate and assured whom his predecessors the Kings of Scotland did euer most feare as their most able enemie whom his Maiesty euer found his most trusty and assured Subiects and this was done with such prosperity and forward successe that the report of the Q. death was scarce named in our neighbour kingdomes but this report of the kings peaceable entrance was farre off generally knowne the good newes of the kings entring outstripping the euill newes of the Queenes death to the comfort of all good men and to the admiration of all men Seuenthly neither was there need as it was thought that the King and his Subiects of Scotland should for this cause haue put themselues into the hazard of vncertaine warre whereby the Kings right might haue indured wrong and Truth haue stood at the discretion of warre which had bene very dangerous and that which our enemies most hoped but the happie issue was otherwise for neither was there any to lift vp his daring hand to resist his Maiestie neither had the King any vse for weapons but onely wore them for ornament and to giue names of honour to such men whom hee thought did or might deserue them Eighthly And thus did God giue vs life when we feared death peace when we feared warre a king when we had none a Prince a Patron and a most noble Defendor of the Catholike Faith vnder whose protection we enioyed peace plenty security And therfore happie were we in his gratious gouernment and happie was his Maiesty whom God found worthie to succeed in the royall seate and in the holy cares of that most famous Defendress of the Faith Queen Elizabeth CHAP. XXXIII Of the Kings defending the Catholike Faith in Scotland before he was King of England FIRST there is nothing of our owne wherein wee may iustly glory but in well-doing because when we doe any work of Grace the Spirit of God moueth in vs and prouoketh vs to holy exercise And therein onely we may worthily esteeme of our selues because we are accepted of God and vsed as his holy-instruments And in this had the Kings Maiestie much to glory

it and the holiest dispised it and that which doth stay them from the fruition of eternall happinesse and tie them to the bondage of flesh which of all other prisons is most slauish especially to a soule of diuine and heauenly contemplation For the holy men of all ages haue neuer thought it burden some to die but haue desired death to release them from the miseries of life neither haue they feared the Image of death when it hath bene presented in the most dreadfull forme that Tyrants and wicked men could deuise because such men make their life but seruant to their death desiring onely to liue to the glorie of their God that so they may die in his fauour for such death setteth open the gates of eternity whereas euery houre of this our transitory life is subiect to many deaths and many hard extremities Secondly The experience of this is common and therefore lesse admirable neither is it strange that Christian men should dispise transitorie life and the vaine glory of flesh because they are bound thereto by the dutie of Christianity Christ himselfe the examples of Christians both commanding and commending it And therefore is this obedienc● most worthie in the Children of Grace but most strange in the sonnes of Nature such as haue onely a generall vnderstanding of God and of his mighty power not knowing him in his mercie nor in the hope of saluation who by the naturall iudgement of sence could iudge the miseries of mans life and therefore would preferre death before a life so vnconstant and variable Such were the noble spirits of many worthy men in former ages and such were many of those graue and learned Philosophers who contemned the vaine glorie of mans life and triumphed in the hope of death being their comfort and that wich in their opinion would conclude their infinite trauell and secure them in the pleasure of perpetuall rest And such were they who vnderstanding the immortality of the soule and how the faculties thereof were letted in their diuine offices by the indisposition of their bodies and the naturall pronenesse thereof to aduersity and euill would by violent death haue freed their soules from the prison of their flesh The which howsoeuer it was by the rule of Religion both damnable and foolish yet they not knowing Religion nor the duty of conscience gaue a notable demonstration how much they esteemed death more than a life so full of misery and change Thirdly Such is the miserable condition of mans life as that euery minute thereof is subiect to euill change no man hauing power to resist the infinite number of occasions that daily threaten him insomuch as if God withdraw his prouidence and leaue vs to our guidance we are then the most miserable of all others hauing more to afflict vs than all the other creatures of God because by our offending the Lord of all wee haue made both him and them our enemies So that all occasions and euery worke of nature watch the aduantage of Gods sufferance to reuenge themselues on man for whose sinne they haue indured the curse of euill And from hence doth issue the infinite number of grieuances which continually threaten the prosperity of mans life whereby the most pleasurable time of mans life is subiect to this great misery that hee cannot secure any little continuance of those pleasures wherin he so delighteth neither can hee preuent the sorrowes of his life nor rid himselfe from the least of them neither can he as he is naturall with any patience beare them So that both with them and without them he is most miserable and so for euer would be if the mercie of God did not supplie to this weakenesse and euill condition of our Nature Fourthly Now to relate some particulars of these infinite miseries I first begin with sicknesse an infirmity that beginneth with our life and endeth in our graue which God hath ordained to subdue the pride of mans nature least being puft vp with too much prosperity we should forget that wee are mortall and but creatures And this in a double respect is very grieuous to our Natures first in respect of the diuersity of sicknesses which being infinite in number seeme like so many enemies to threaten our tranquillity and quiet Secondly in respect of our selues all men being at all times subiect to all infirmities And therefore they that haue heaped the glory and treasure of this worlde and seeme to ingrosse the pleasures of this life are notwithstanding arrested by sicknesse and that many times with such violence as they earnestly desire death to release them of the miseries of life neither is the basest condition of men exempt from this generall infirmitie the rich the poore the base and the Noble being in this respect equalls all men being alike seruants to the sorrow of sicknesse whose generall power preuailes to the destruction of all flesh Fifthly Another maine grieuance is pouerty of life which doth depresse the spirits of many which otherwise would rise to those deseruings which in the iudgement of the world are most honourable And this is both in it selfe euill and a punishment for sinne also in generall opinion it is most hatefull and that which almost all men carefully shunne because in the reputation of the world men are estimated not according to their being what they are but after their hauing how much they are in the fauour of fortune And such men are onely esteemed honourable and best worthy who are most worth in vaine and vile possessions the better sort of men commonly enioying the least part of those earthly blessings which God hath giuen his creatures by which vneuen distribution it commeth to passe that many times the honourable man hath the vilde place and the vilde man the honourable the seruant many times exceeding his Lord in the true worth of honesty and vertue by whom he is exceeded in vaine glory and honour And this must needs be a great deiection to such as haue spirit to vnderstand themselues for when men liue in a disproportion to their worth it exceedingly blunteth that alacrity and good spirit which in a better condition of fortune would be gracefull And surely it cannot but grieue the spirit of vnderstanding men to see the blockish and most vnworthie like idols with ornaments and trappings to be inuested with dignities and high preferments that onely know to vse those dignities to their couetous profit and not to any honourable deseruing And though pouerty to a good man be but like the foyle to a diamond to make it appeare the more beautifull yet generally to mankinde it is most hatefull and that which is onely indured by necessity and Christian patience begetting many times most dangerous discontentments in them of best apprehension and obscuring the gifts of God and nature which otherwise