Selected quad for the lemma: life_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
life_n	consolation_n	faith_n	promote_a	93	3	16.1022	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29240	Times treasury, or, Academy for gentry laying downe excellent grounds, both divine and humane, in relation to sexes of both kindes : for their accomplishment in arguments of discourse, habit, fashion and happy progresse in their spirituall conversation : revised, corrected and inlarged with A ladies love-lecture : and a supplement entituled The turtles triumph : summing up all in an exquisite Character of honour / by R. Brathwait, Esq.	Brathwaite, Richard, 1588?-1673.	1652 (1652)	Wing B4276; ESTC R28531	608,024	537

such in this life as it rather consisteth in the remission of sinnes than Perfection of vertues Yea wee sinne daily so as properly we can attribute nothing to our owne strength but weaknesse to our owne ability but infirmnesse to our resolves but uncertainnesse to our wils but untowardnesse to our affections but depravednesse nor to the whole progresie of our lives but actuall disobedience But rather I say wee meane of that Christian Perfection which every one in this Tabernacle of clay is to labour for that wee may become perfect through him who became weake that wee might bee strengthned hungry that we might be nourished thirsty that wee might bee refreshed disgraced that wee might be honoured yea who became all unto all that by all meanes hee might gaine some But wherein may this actuall perfection bee properly said to consist In Mortification which like the swift gliding torrent of Hydaspes divides or dilates it selfe to two channels Action and Affection Action in expressing it Affection in desiring to expresse it Action in suffering Affection in desire of suffering The one actuating no lesse in will than the other in worke Where the Action being more exemplar and in that more fruitfull gives precedency to Affection which concurres with the act to make the worke more graciously powerfull For where a worke of Mortification is performed and a hearty desire or affection to that worke is not adjoyned that Action may bee properly said to bee enforced rather than out of a free or willing disposition accepted Now this twofold Mortification extends it selfe properly to these three Subjects Life Name Goods Life which even Humanity tendreth Name which a good man before the sweetest odours preferreth Goods on which the worldling as on the supreme good lieth For the first many excellent and memorable examples of sundry devout and constant servants of Christ Iesus are in every place frequent and obvious who for the confirmation of their faith and the testimony of a good conscience joyfully and cheerefully laid down their lives esteeming it an especiall glory to bee thought worthy to suffer for him who with all constancy suffered to become an example of patience to them which were easie to illustrate by the sufferings of many eminent and glorious Martyrs Prudentius writeth that when Ascl●piades commanded the tormentors to strike R●manus on the mouth the meeke Martyr answered I thanke thee O Captaine that thou hast opened unto mee many mouthes whereby I may preach my Lord and Saviour Tot ecce laudant ora quot sunt vulnera Looke how many wounds I have so many mouthes I have to praise and laud the Lord. Ignatius words were these to witnesse his constancie at the time of his suffering Frumentum sum Christi per dentes bestiarum molor ut mundus panis Dei inveniar I am Christs corne and must bee ground by the teeth of wilde beasts that I may become pure manchet for the Lord. It is reported that blessed Laurence being laid upon the Gridiron used these words to his Tormentors Turne and eate it is enough Saint Andrew when he went to bee crucified was so rapt with joy as hee rejoyced unmeasurably in that blessed resemblance of his Masters death Blessed Bartholomew willingly lost his skin for his sake who had his skinne scourged that hee might bee solaced Iohn dranke a cup of poison to pledge his Master in a cup of affliction Thus Laurence's Gridiron Andrewes Crosse Bartholomew's Skinne Iohns Cup expressed their Mortification by a willing surrender of their life for his sake who was the Lord of life Yea should wee survey those strange invented torments during the bloudy issue of the tenne Persecutions which were contrived by those inhumane Assasinates whose hands were deep● died in the bloud of the Saints wee should no lesse admire the constancy of the persecuted suffering than the cruelty of the Persecutors infesting What rackes hookes harrowes tongs forkes stakes were purposely provided to torment the constant and resolute Professours of the truth wearying the tormentors rather with tormenting than abating any part of their constancie in the height and heat of their tormenting Yea they were solaced in the time when they suffered esteeming death to bee such a passage as might give them convoy to a more glorious heritage Neither did these blessed Professors of the faith receive comfort by the eye of their meditation firmely fixed on heaven but by the compassion and princely commiseration of divers eminent ad victorious Emperours bearing soveraignty then on earth Constantine the Great used to kisse the eye of Paphnutius which was bored out in Maximinas time The like noble and princely compassion wee reade to have beene shewed by Titus Trajan Theodosius and many other Princes graciously affected towards the poore afflicted and persecuted Christians Yea God moved the hearts of those who naturally are most remorselesse or obdurate in commiserating the estate of his afflicted Which may appeare by the Gaolor in the Acts who washed Saint Pauls stripes and wounds O how comfortable were these passions or passages of affliction these tortures or torments the trophies of their persecution the blessed memoriall whereof shall extend the date of time receiving a crowne of him who is the length of dayes So as King Alexanders Stagges were knowne and hundred yeares together by those golden collars which by the Kings commandement were put about their neckes or as King Arthurs bodie being taken up some what more than six hundred yeares after his death was knowne to bee his by nothing so much as by the prints of ten severall wounds which appeared in his skull so these glorious stampes of their passion shall appeare as trophies to them in the day of exaltation because as they lost their lives for the testimony of the Gospel they shall finde them recorded in the booke of life receiving the crowne of consolation for the deep draught which they tooke of the cup of affliction And reason there is we should dis-value our lives for the profession of our faith since forlorne and miserable is his life that is without faith For if the Heathen whose future hopes were fixed on posterity and not so much as the least knowledge of eternity dis-esteemed their lives to gaine them renown or propagate their countries glory much more cause have wee to subject our lives to the censure of death having hope after death to live in glory It is reported that the body of Cadwallo an antient King of the Britains being embalmed and dressed with sweet confections was put into a brazen image and set upon a brazen horse over Ludgate for a terror to the Saxons and Zisca the valiant Captaine of the Bohemians commanded that after his decease his skin would bee flayed from his bodie to make a drum which they should use in their battels affirming that as soone as the Hungarians or any other Enemies should heare the sound of

and uncorrigible dispositions naturally affected to all sensuall liberty preferring one minutes pleasure or profit before an eternity of succeeding pleasures and profits reserved for those only whose lives are imployed in promoting their Makers glory being wholly addressed to please him and whose deaths like the choicest odours sent out a sweet smell the perfume of a good and vertuous life sending out a voice even in their last period to praise him What admirable moderation divers ancient Princes have shewen especially in their contempt to the glory and pompe of this life Histories can afford sufficient examples but to omit forraigne instances my purpose is to insert here one of our owne which by how much more neere us by so much deeper impression should it enforce in us Canutus that was absolute King almost of five kingdomes somewhat before the Conquest upon a time in his Progresse riding neere the Thames light and sate downe before the shore then as it were to try a conclusion hee commanded the water being now ready to arise againe and to flow not to come any neerer him But the water keeping his naturall course came up still higher and higher till it began to wet him Whereupon to his Nobles which were about him Yee call mee sayes he your King and Master and so indeed I am and yet loe yee I cannot command so much as this little streame but doe what I can that will doe still as it list Whereupon presently hee posted to Westminster and resigned his Crowne to the Crucifix there neither could hee ever after this be perswaded to weare it any more The like indifferency to all princely honours shewed those memorable Saxons Kingulfus Iva Ceodulphus Eadbertus Ethelredus Keredus Offa. Sebbi Sigebertus Charles the fifth Emperour of Germany gave up his Empire into the hands of the Princes Electors and with-drew himselfe in the yeere 1557. into a Monastery The like of late yeeres did his sonne King Philip of Spaine Neither need wee to exemplifie this subject touching contempt of the world onely in such as the glorious light of the Gospel had shone upon but such whose time of darkenesse had never attained to so blessed a Sunne-shine As it may be instanced in Dioclesian who voluntarily relinquished the flourishingest Empire in the world Yea to adde one example more even amongst those whose best Religion is Policie and whose onely aimes are to inlarge their own Soveraignty Amurah the second Emperour of the Turkes after he had gotten infinite victories became a Monke of the straightest Order amongst them in the yeere of our Lord 1449. All which may seeme to confirme what Sel●ucus being King was wont to say That if a man knew with what care a Diadem was clogged hee would not take it up though it lay in the street So as when the Romans had despoiled Antiochus of all Asia hee gave them great thankes saying they had rid him of many insupportable cares Now as we have defined this vertue to be a subduer of our desires to the obedience of reason and a temperate conformer of all our affections so are wee to direct our eye to the conclusion to wit a freer of the affections from the too much subjection either of desires or feares So as we are here to observe that hee is the man whom our definition only aimes at whose well-tempered brest is neither transported with a desire of enjoying what it hath not nor surprised with a feare of losing what it now enjoyes Having so much as may content him the losse whereof should hee sustaine could nere deject him Such an one the Tragick Poet entituleth a Prince as one too worthy to bee numbred amongst the inferiour ranke Who feares desires and flilling cares suppresse Are Kings at least they can be nothing lesse For these are they who have absolute soveraignty over their passions and in prosperity scorne as much to be proud as in adversity to shew themselves base Yea they will rather entertaine the extreamest encounters that misery can lay upon them then lose the least of that liberty of mind with which their noble temper hath endued them In briefe those onely who dis-value sublunary things esteeming them as they are onely to minister to our necessity and not to reare them as blind worldlings use in the tabernacle of their heart to commit idolatry keepe consort with this Definition for the golden meane as it is onely approved by them so in a princely moderation of their affections they are ever readiest to enter lists with their owne passions that if any either exceed or come short of this meane they may so square and hammer it till it bee reduced to a proposed meane And let this suffice for the Definition we will now descend to the second branch wherein wee intend to shew that no vertue can subsist without Moderation being indeed the temper which allayeth and aptly disposeth all our actions making them equally seasoned which otherwise would become violent and immoderate AS Moderation is a subduer of every inordinate or indisposed affection so is it a seasoner or temperer of all our actions making them seeme worthy the title of vertuous which without this temper would appeare vicious For without this Moderation he that is liberall should incurre the name of prodigall the frugall the name of miserable the resolute be termed dissolute the morall civill man a coward the wise Stoicall the regular meerely formall the just rigorous the mercifull remisse So defective is the structure of all vertues wanting the sweet temper of Moderation to season them Neither proceedeth this from the malevolent or uncharitable censures of men as former times have beene too apt to traduce or mis-interpret their best deservings by aspersing some unworthy blemish upon their demerits As in Rome if the Pisoes bee frugall they are censured-parcimonious if the Metelli religious they are taxed superstitious if the Appii popular they are termed ambitious if the Manlii austere they are stiled tyrannous if the Lelii wise they are curious the Publicolae aspiring if courteous But meerely upon the want or deficiency of such actions which are not tempered with Moderation For to give instance in each kinde how nobly and invincibly did Alexander the great beare himselfe in all exploits how much feared abroad and how much loved at home how affable to his friends and how terrible to his foes Yet how much were all his actions of valour and matchlesse resolution darkened through want of Moderation being so excessively given to passion in his drinke as his nearest and dearest friends could not bee secure from his fury For howsoever those acts and exploits of his against Darius yea against all opponents expressed the noblenesse of his person with the continued attendance of succeeding fortune yet the death of Clytus the torments he inflicted on Callisthenes and depopulation of Persepolis detracted as much from his glory as ever his Conquests gained him glory Likewise how

this did all the Saints and servants of God joy disvaluing all other joy as unworthy the entertainment of the soule Wee are to rejoyce likewise for as much as God hath called us not to uncleannesse but unto holinesse We are to rejoyce in the testimony of a good conscience being that continuall feast which refresheth every faithfull guest Wee are to rejoyce in our brothers aversion from sinne and conversion to God in his prosperity and successe in his affaires of state But above all things wee are so to moderate our joy in the whole progresse of our life that our joy may the more abound in him who is the crowne of our hope after this life The like directions are required in our moderation of sorrow for there is a sorrow unto death which to prevent understand this by the way that not so much the passion as the occasion enforcing the passion is to bee taken heed of Sorrow wee may but not as Ammon did till he had defloured Thamar for that was the sorrow of licentiousnesse Sorrow we may but not as Ahab did till he had got Naboths vineyard for that was the sorrow of covetousnesse Sorrow we may but not as Iosephs brethren did greiving that their father should love him more than them for that was the sorrow of maliciousnesse Sorrow we may but not as Ionah did grieving that the Ninivites were not destroyed for that was the sorrow of unmercifulnesse Lastly sorrow wee may but not as the Gergesenes did grieving for the losse of their swine for that was the sorrow of worldlinesse These sorrowes are not so much to be moderated as wholly abolished because they are grounded on sin but there is a religious and godly sorrow which though it afflict the body it refresheth the spirit though it fill the heart with heavinesse it crowneth the soule with happinesse And this is not a sorrow unto sinne but a sorrow for sin not a sorrow unto death but a sorrow to cure the wound of death By how much any one saith a good Father is holier by so much in prayer are his teares plentifuller Here sounds the Surdon of religious sorrow the awaker of devotion the begetter of spirituall compunction and the sealer of heavenly consolation being the way to those that beginne truth to those that profit and life to them that are perfect But alas the naturall man saith the Apostle perceiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnes unto him neither can hee know them because they are spiritually discerned It is true and this should move us to more fervor of devotion beseeching the divine assistance to minister strength to our weaknesse that what is wanting in the flesh may be supplied by the spirit yea daily to set an houre-glasse beside us and observe those precious graines the minute treasures of time how swiftly they run thorow the Cruet whereof not one must fall unnumbred for as a haire of the head shall not perish no more shall the least moment of time Now how healthfull were it though the carnall man distate it to vie teares with graines of sand that our sinnes being as the Sands of the Sea-shore that is numberlesse might bee bound up and throwne into the deepe Sea of eternall forgetfulnesse so as they may neither rise up in this life to shame us nor in the world to come to condemne us Surely if you would know those blessed fruits which true penitent sorrow produceth you shall finde that He who sowes in teares shall reape in joy Neither can any one goe to heaven with drie eyes May your teares be so shed on earth that they may bee bottled in heaven so shall you bring your sheaves with you and like fine flower being boulted from the bran of corruption receive your portion in the land of the living And may this Sacrifice of teares which you offer up unto him whose eyes are upon all the wayes of the children of men minister like comfort to your soules as they have done to many faithfull members of Christs Church And let this suffice to have beene spoken of such Subjects wherein Moderation is to bee used for to speake of Moderation of sorrow for sinne I hold it little necessary seeing most men so insensible are they of their inward wounds come rather short of that sorrow which is required then exceed in any sort the measure that is prescribed AS Moderation in all the precedent subjects is to be used so in all and every of them is it to be limited for to be so Stoically affected as wee have formerly noted as not to entertaine so much as modest mirth or approve of the temperate and moderate use of those things which were at first ordained for the use and service of man digressing as farre from the rule of Moderation in restraint as the profusely minded Libertine doth in excesse How hard a thing is it then to observe with indifferency an equall or direct course herein when either by leaping short or over we are subject to error So saith blessed Cranmer Some lose their game by short shooting some by over-shooting some walk too much on the left hand some too much on the right hand Now to propose what forme of direction is best to be observed herein wee will take a view of those Subjects whereof wee formerly treated and set downe in each of them what Moderation is to be used All waters are derived from three waies or currents springing either by fountaines and spring-heads from the bowells of the earth inwardly drained by rivers and conduits from those fountaines derived or haile and snow from the earth extracted where some ascend some descend so passions are three wayes moved in our bodies by humours arising out of our bodies by externall senses and the secret passage of sensuall objects or by the descent or commandement of reason Now to insist on the motion or effect of each passion we shall not greatly need having sufficiently touched them in our former discourse we will therfore upon a review of those severall subjects Lust Ambition Gorgeous apparel Luscious fare Company-keeping c. reduce them and the occasion of them to those three troubled Springs from whence miserable man by meanes of the immoderate appetite of sense sucks the banefull poyson of sinne The Concupiscence of the Flesh the Concupiscence of the eyes and the Pride of life for whatsoever is in the world as a good Father noteth and as the blessed Apostle himself affirmeth is one of these As first whatsoever suiteth or sorteth with the desire or delicacy of the flesh ministers fuel or matter to feed the Concupiscence therof Now this fleshly Libertine takes no delight in the Spirit but in the Flesh he loves to be cloathed in purple and fare deliciously every day he loves to be cloathed in purple and fare deliciously every day he loves to keepe company with those consorts of