Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	call_v	ghost_n	holy_a	2,960	5	5.1813	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01992	The wise vieillard, or old man. Translated out of French into English by an obscure Englishman, a friend and fauourer of all wise old-men; Sage vieillard. English	Goulart, Simon, 1543-1628.; Williamson, Thomas, 1593-1639.; T. W., obscure Englishman.	1621 (1621)	STC 12136; ESTC S103357	144,385	222

afflictions wee are made the more fit for laudable actions And as Cicero sayth in his booke of Tusculane questions If at the exercise of wrastling the champions contemne bruises and hurts and their paines and tuggings in the presence of noble personages are easily borne set light by and not a whit blencht at why should we make any difficulty stoutly to thwarte and resist the dangers which in the wayes of vertue offer themselues What magnanimitie can be of more fame and note then that which is seene in the hazard of dangers and in bearing those euills which must be vndergone and cannot be auoided for so long as the heart keepes his hold vnmoued vndaunted not fainting not quayling all is well And this resolution is much more excellent then the possession of the treasures and goods of the world which a great minde commonly contemnes as things flitting transitory and vaine Againe by the testimony of Seneca vnintermitted and daily aduersitie and euill at least as we call it hath this good and commodity that those that are tempested vexed and exercised therewith are the more hardy to beare and endure But why should hee which knowes and takes himselfe to be a man and triumphes and glories to be called a man refuse to put vnder his shoulder and stoope to those ieopardies burthens and crosses which are incident and casuall to a man Moreouer the Heathens doe tell vs of other stayes and helpes to old age whereby to prolong it and make it more easefull as well in regard of the body as of the minde Cicero sayth We must make head and striue against old age carefully correct helpe and redresse her defaults and defects and neither more nor lesse resist it then wee would doe some disease Let vs haue then a care of our health let our bodily exercises be moderate let vs eat and drinke to restore and not to oppresse and ouerthrow that bodily strength which remaines Hee that is old cannot be young againe and death is ineuitable but it is possible to corroborate and strengthen old age by good gouernment and order of diet and to keepe the heart from fainting and dying on a suddaine Wise old men are taught and prescribed of learned and Christian Physicians reamedies outward and inward of good and sound health which they are carefull to obserue that so they might hold out and continue the longer to doe good in the sight of God to themselues and their neighbours For which cause as Cicero said besides the tendring and cherishing of their weake bodies which daily doe languish and pine away they are much more thoughtfull of their minde and intellectuall and memoratiue parts which by little and little decay if we doe not euen as a Lampe is with oyle maintaine and keepe them exercised Long trauell tyrings and toylefull labours make our bodies vnweldy sluggish and lither on the contrary continuall exercise and study doe recreate reuiue and cherish our mindes If old men be scoffed and mockt at in the Theaters and common assemblies as dolts mad fooles and dotardes it is onely meant of such as be credulous obliuious voluptuous and dissolute persons These are vices of young and old but not of all persons alike For the wise Vieillard hath alwayes his minde bent and intent vnto vertue All his desire is to keepe himselfe immaculate and pure before God well affectioned to his countrey carefull for the building of that spirituall temple which is called the Church gouerning and bringing vp his family in the loue of pietie righteousnesse holinesse verity shining by his graue counsells and sayings and by his worthy actions and deedes as a sun among men to the ioy of his friendes and well willers and to the astonishment at home and abroad of the enemies and enuiers of the splendour and eminency of those excellent gifts which the holy Ghost hath liberally communicated and conferred vnto him The wise Vieillard desirous to liue long in this estate for the good of many hath most noble and worthy thoughts and agreeing to his age though hee bee farre spent with yeares his heart is strong to doe wonderfull matters ere hee depart hence and yet the best of his life is in his inwardest part the soule But I know not what false opinion or wretched ignorance of the truth doth possesse vs that in stead of taking pleasure in our owne happinesses we cease not to torment vex our selues about euills which wee make much greater then they are so that almost ordinarily and without much thinking thereon wee voluntarily runne our selues headlong into voluntary carkings and fits and into continuall anxieties disquiets and troubles of minde making that part of our life extreamely miserable which should with glory crowne all that is past No whit remembring what wise Plato said That what things soeuer the outward senses desire or feare they are almost no other but stadowes and dreames CHAP. XIIII Assured consolations against all the infirmities of bodie and minde ALthough the Heathen Greeke and Latine Philosophers among others Plutarch and Seneca seeme to haue gloriously discoursed of all whatsoeuer concernes the tranquilitie and contentment of the minde thereby to make the troubles and discommodities of this present life more easily borne Yet must it be confessed as wee haue else where obserued vpon the foresaid Philosophers that their discourses are weake and insufficient yea altogether impertinent being compared to the doctrines of heauenly wisedome Notwithstanding let vs speake this word by the way touching the reading of such Authors who endeauour according to their poore skill to reclaime vs from vice wherein worldlings wallow and dabble ehemselues to their confusion to the end to settle and habituate vs in laudable thoughts and in noble exercises of vertue They are men guided by a darke light by which some glympses and glymmerings of truth are seene and appeare which doe not sufficiently direct and point out the way yet setue they to make knowne well enough to them that are wide and strangers to the true light that they are euery way miserable And such by schooles doe teach sober young and old men to redeeme the time and to make all hast to bee admitted betimes into the holy Academie there to bee fully resolued of the doubts and hard questions which humane wisedome cannot assoyle and discusse Ploto in his Philche is of the minde that the ancient Authors are to bee read which in his opinion are the neerer streames to the fountaine of truth and consequently the purer If this be so what shall we say of Moses Dauid Salomon the Prophets whose writing were before those of the Heathen with what eye of regard and how heedfully and accurately ought wee to read the holy Euangelistes and Apostles replenished and full of so many necessary and important doctrines for all sorts of persons Who dares contradict them but an Atheist and horrible monster condemned by the testimony of his conscience wherein hee beares the written doome and

with a deuout zeale and courage But let vs yet come neerer and according to our proiect and purpose let vs see what helpe and comfort Philosophie and faith doe yeeld and afford vs against our naturall frailtie While we are in this world wee cannot haue freedome and ease from all our affections perturbations and passions nor from all sense of our miserie Then seeing it is so let vs at least take a course to moderate them and with patience to beare our condition which we shall easily doe if we call to minde what our sinnes doe deserue and how great the wisedome and goodnesse of God is in turning our aduersities and troubles to be profitable and wholesome medicines and helpes vnto vs. Let vs then first acknowledge in our originall and naturall frailtie that which is remarkable and to be obserued in all the children of Adam S. Bernard sayth in one of his Sermons vpon the Canticles Man being aduanced and raised to honour is become as a brute Beast he dwelt in a garden and had a pleasant dwelling and very delightfull was not pressed with any care or annoyances wanted nothing was surrounded with sweet smelling flowers with fruits pleasing to the taste was crowned with glory and honour was supervisor and Lord ouer all the workes which his Creator had made But his chiefest excellency consisted in this that he was created after the Image of God was a companion with the Angelles and with all the companies of the hoste of Heauen But hee hath changed this glorie and is become like to the Beastes O lamentable and woefull change That man a trimmer of a garden of pleasure Lord of the earth a cittizen of Heauen a domestique of the Lord God of hostes an heire of heauenly happinesse by a suddaine change is become naked miserable poore like to the beastes which with a bridle we awe and keepe vnder Now as man is come naked out of his mothers belly so shall hee returne to the earth carrying nothing with him of all his labour and trauayle For to draw some comfort from that which hath beene spoken let vs now and then ponder and weigh with our selues that it is our fault and misdoinges hath brought these euils and miseries and others much more grieuous and heauie vpon vs that we must not blame God but our owne disobedience Then let vs consider in God such a mercie as doth easily swallow vp all the miseries of this present life in as much as he turneth and changeth them to medicines profitable to vs. To which purpose S. Augustine said vpon the exposition of the Psalme 22. Man knows that God is a Phisitian that affliction is a remedie procuring his saluation and not a punishment effectuating his damnation When a remedie is sought for the Phisitian brings a searing iron and fire thou cryest thy Phisitian heares well enough thy roarings and clamours but he heares not to doe as thou wouldest haue him to doe but to heale thee Behold according to S. Paul in the fift Chapter of the Epistle to the Romaines how the Phisicke workes Tribulation brings forth patience and patience experience and experience hope Let vs then haue before our eyes this molehill of earth whereof the bodie is kneaded and made and the grace of the holy Ghost proceeding out of the most hidden treasures of Gods loue whose will it hath bin that this vile masse of earth should bee a vessell of his glory Let vs make reckoning of it in as much as our bodies so sayth the Apostle 1 Cor. haue beene made members of Iesus Christ temples of the holy Ghost Let vs not be lesse considerate and ingrate then the incredulous and prophane Gentiles who haue so deepely considered the frailtie viletie miserie of our originall as Lactantius in the second booke of his Institutions Chap. 12. collects out of the first booke of Ciceroes lawes that they haue acknowledged that this wretched poore liuing creature in whom is seene such wisedome prudence wit memory a large and deepe vnderstanding and reason was created of the high God to be eleuated and aduanced to an excellent state and condition Although then other liuing creatures devoid of reason seeme better prouided and armed touching the bodie then man Some being very swift of foote as Hares Does and Stagges others armed with sharpe clawes and hornes as Lyons and Bulles others dight trimmed and sheltered with feathers and wings as Birds and Fowles yet notwithstanding this is done by the exquisite prouidence of God as Chrysostome notes well That all the power and strength of man should be in the soule and that man should be so much the more strong in God as he is more weake and naked without This mystery and secret long agoe was acknowledged by Dauid and all wise old men to teach the younger ought to remember it Thou hast sayth he speaking to God put thy strength in the mouth of little children and sucking babes Surely in this first age sustained gouerned guarded and protected by a speciall wisedome and admirable power of the Creator he seemes to lay as the first foundations of his power and might to make them manifest to them that haue any vnderstanding thereby to quell and confound with shame the enemies of his name Atheists and prophane persons which dare contest and contend against him In the Psalme 22. the Prophet strengthened by his owne experience sayth assuredly O God thou art hee which drewest me out of my mothers belly thou gauest me assurance and safetie at my nurses brest I haue been in thy custodie tuition and charge from the wombe thou art my strong God from my conception And in the Psalme 139. Thou hast possessed my reines from the time that I was lapped vp and couered in my mothers wombe I will celebrate and prayse thee for that I was made in so strange and wonderfull a manner Thy workes are wonderfull and my soule knowes it right well The good proportion and setting in order of my bones was not hid from thee when I was made in a secret place and curiously fashioned beneath in the earth Thine eyes did see me when I was as a formelesse embryon all these things were written in thy booke before they were O mighty God how precious then vnto me are the considerations of thy workes and how great is the number of them will I take vpon mee to count them they are more in number then the smallest sands These are the holy meditations of Dauid So then casting our eyes to the ground vpon this little heape of earth whereof our bodies are formed wee learne to hang downe the head and bowe downe the crest and to abate more then three parts of our pride and selfe conceit On the contrary lifting vp our eyes to heauen from whence our soules tooke their beginning and where the great Father of spirits dwelles we haue cause giuen vs to reioyce and occasion with all alacritie and readinesse to trample vnder our feete all

of the company of sinners to be with the iust and in the heauenly Ierusalem to rest from our labours But as it is commended to old and young to haue their hearts where there treasure is which ought to be in heauen consequently not to be affectionated and inamoured of this present life which is indeed no life and is forbidden them to loue the world and the things in the world So must they not hate and abhorre this earthly life nor take occasion by the cumbers thereof to bee ingrate toward God much lesse to mutter and murmure against his iustice or to censure his prouidence Seeing that our life here though short painefull and miserable is an excellent gift yea an assured testimony of Gods loue and fauour to vs. Let vs then so vse it that whatsoeuer we shall abate if wee bee wise of the disordinate loue thereof may be added to a feruent and holy desire to be with the soonest receiued into heauen For wee should doe ill to wish death but to be with the Lord to glorifie him in the triumphant Church more compleately and fully then in the Church militant Let vs onely desire for this cause to liue on earth to prayse our Father which is in heauen and let vs stand and keepe sentinell to wit our vocation wherein our chiefetaine and soueraigne head hath placed vs till he call vs away which is by the call and hand of death True it is that old men are no lesse frighted and skared sometimes more then young men when we tell them of death But the desire to be with our Sauiour in heauen ought so to ouercome this frailty that faith may perswade vs deuoutly to wish that which nature is afraide of By what badges and collours should we be knowne to be Christians and beleeuers if wee should so much feare the day of death which brings vs to the true land of the liuing Should we not be more wretched then the beasts if wee should not leap and skip for ioy pronouncing these comfortable wordes I beleeue the remission of sinnes the resurrection of the flesh the life euerlasting Are not these the priuiledges of the holy vniuersall or Catholique Church and of the communion of Saints Then shall our miseries and infinite temptations bee abolished Then shall wee enioy vnspeakeable glory in heauen aboue all them when after this happy resurrection all our enemies shall be vanquished and God shall bee all in all to his elect But forasmuch as the way to heauen lies open vnto vs in earth it is requisite that Christians old and young know to vse well this present life and the meanes to support it because without this knowledge and skill there is nothing but perills mischances and distasters in our terrene and earthly pilgrimage which it is reason to ayde comfort and further not to hinder and let by vsing our meanes well as well by a supply to our necessities as by honest lawfull recreations and fitting to our ages and callings In both these respects two extreamities are to be shunned Too great austeritie on the one side dissolution and intemperance on the other Those which boast and glory before God and men of a certaine hypocriticall and dissembled abstinence and continence and moulded in their owne fancies or others like themselues are way wardly wise and Timons enemies of honest societie persons which haue but a vaine ridiculous shew and appearance who for the the most part commit in secret things reserued to the iust punishment of the Lord persons vnreasonable vnindifferent to themselues and others ignorant of the doctrine of holinesse true Christian liberty enemies to Iesus Christ his offices and benefits All the life of Gods children who in the Common weale Church and their owne families are profitable seruants and ministers condemneth these frantike wizards who haue made their vaunt and boast of a Moonkish lazie life who vnder player-like habits haue hatched the greatest pride and counterfeite confidence that may be imagined who haue insolently defied and spit at the lawfull recreations of good men and conuerted the graces of the Lord into vncouth and strange dissolutions But to stirre this filth no longer As those that are young and old indued with the feare of the Lord know that it is permitted them to vse the goods and things of thig life not onely for necessity but also for honest delight so it be to the glory of God the reliefe of their neighbour and the common edification of all and to bee for their owne particuler so much the more adapted and fitted to conuerse and keepe company So doe they not cease to condemne as much as their calling requires all dissolutions enormous and licentious liuing in fine all abuse of the things of this life Hereupon it is good to remember First that all the goods wee possesse were ordained that wee should duely acknowledge the Author and giuer of them magnifying with thanksgiuing his liberality to vs which intemperate and dissolute persons cannot doe Secondly that all these goods ought to bee abandoned yea accounted as nothing euen dispised as dung in comparison of the excellent knowledge of our saluation in Iesus Christ and of that glory which is reserued for vs in heauen which is quenched and dyeth when we are too much addicted and wedded to goods transitory and perishing For as much as wee excessiuely abuse them in prosperitie making them instruments of our ruine and hurt which are to procure helpe and further our good For that also we being depriued of them cease not to thinke and to say that all is lost and gone that we are miserable Indeed so wee are in carrying our selues thus but wee haue a good Lord who doth infinitely helpe and support vs but it is to binde and oblige vs so much the more to our dutie Thirdly that the holy Scripture for the ordering of our goods doth teach vs that they are giuen to vs vpon condition to yeeld account of them sooner or later yea by him that hath expresly forbidden the abuse of them whom also wee cannot deceiue or abuse Fourthly that to discerne the right vse from the abuse o●●orldly goods God hath ordained that euery man in all the actions of this life cast his eyes and looke to his vocation and calling that he rashly vndertake nothing nor with a doubting and vnresolued conscience Whereupon it followes that infidels superstitious vniust dissolute prophane persons and Atheists are infinitly culpable and guilty before God because they outragiously and aboue measure abuse this present life and the good they possesse in it all things being polluted to them they themselues being polluted both in body and minde For conclusion of our counsell and aduice the wise Vieillard shall remember that the life of euery Christian young and old consisteth in these sixe Articles First That we haue a sincere affection to obey God Secondly That the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles contained in the Canonical Bookes of the old