Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	death_n	sin_n	wage_n	3,467	5	11.7433	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65238	The gentlemans monitor, or, A sober inspection into the vertues, vices, and ordinary means of the rise and decay of men and families with the authors apology and application to the nobles and gentry of England seasonable for these times / by Edw. Waterhous[e] ...	Waterhouse, Edward, 1619-1670.	1665 (1665)	Wing W1047; ESTC R34735	255,011	508

unregarded weather-beaten tattered Noble in nothing but in the Moss of time and the Moulds of Bullets discharged against but repelled by them Though I say this may be the mis-fortune of deserving men Sir H. Wottons letter to the Duke of Buckingham who yet are like those ●ell-fishes which sometimes they say oversleeping themselvs in an ebbing water feel nothing about them but a dry shore when they awake Yet in Heaven whither O Nobles and Gentlemen I hope by the mercy of God many of you will come there will be as no preterition of you nor no separation from your glory so will your glory keep your vertues in constant actuation Omnes virtutes erunt ibi in effectu potenitalitate tarditate ac difficultate operandi omnino sublatis erunt itaque in continu● actualitatis suae Guliel●us Parisiensis c. 1 de trib Sanctorum And when you have considered this compensation promised and certain your mortal varieties of state ought not so much to fear you to encounter with as your immortal stability and unalterableness encourage you to overcome them And is not God a good Master and the thoughts of him a notable cordial to provoke you to despise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De corpore Christi Stus Athanasius Orat. de Salutari advent● Salvatoris advers Apollinar p. 648. Tom. 1. and carry you thorow whatever this life which Athanasius calls a sequestration from glory can inamour you with by its power or discourage you in by its policy which is nothing at all to a good man whose treasure is magazin'd where nothing malicious or injurious can come yea in spight of which God will speak peace by the voyce of conscience whose me●●age is as solacing as that to Leo the ninth was Ego cogito pacis cogitation●s non afflictionis Platina in Leone 9. I think the thoughts of peace and not of affliction For God makes this World to Holy men what the Father calls affliction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stus Basil. Selenciae Orat 6. p. 37. The Schole of Vertue the Safe of Nature in which are deposited the Laws Rights of it the admired shadows the victorious Tree of the Cross. SECT XLIV Shews That by thinking of God and the account Nobles and Gentlemen are to make to him better preparation is made for Death THirdly Quantumlibt enim vivat diutius somnium sibi esse videtur quod vixit cum moritur non ergo longaevitatem homo hic habet ubi quandoques mori●urus est Anselmus lib. de similitud c. 58 by this ye Nobles and Gentlemen shall the better prepare for the suddenness and inevitability of death which being the wages of sin and the doom of God upon culpable nature is to be expected till and welcommed when it comes for alas what is life which death is the intruder upon and the determiner of but a wind that soon passes a vapour presently dissipated a tale ending while telling a Flower in a moment faded a Flash of Lightning as instantly departed as darted a bubble that with the least touch is prick'd and flatted and when life so tender and mercenary to every trifle is trod upon by death and trampled upon by its insultings then all the Pageantries of mens visible greatnesses gives way to their recess into silence and forgetfulness the meditation of this Epictetus commends to men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euchyrid c. 23. as that which renders life not much to be desired or death much to be feared for in that life is rather lent and deposited by God with us then given to us as Retrarchs notion of it is wisdom calls upon men to reckon themselves ever accountable Homo quippe vitae commodatus est non donatus sapiens in hac vitaa sic dies stude● agere transitorias ut in futura die● aeternitatis inveniat Petrarch lib. 1. de vera sapientia and to be willing to return it every moment which is confirmed by holy Moses whose desire for Israels useful and practical good was That they were wise to consider their latter end and I suppose upon this ground is that of the Wiseman Better go into the house of mourning then into the house of laughter because the mourning house is disciplinary of mortality and referential to that fatal period which sin and sorrow the two unhappy Twins of life have set to them Indeed sin is so natural to life and so true ●n alliance of sorrow that it is not ordi●arily possible to separate their conjuncti●n or to disanul their cognation Hence ●t is that because we are all in the shadow of death life being but glittering death Iob 10. 11. Iob 30. 23. and death as it were but ecclipsed life all ●hat man who is born can look for here 〈◊〉 to die that is to ravle off the bottom of his daies and to become what he was when he was not man that is dust and to ●he expectation of this nature and expe●ience do every day manifoldly summon ●nd lesson him For in that we see all ●ges all conditions all sexes render themselves prisoners to death how Noble is it to die daily and to cherish life but as a present good not worth delighting in or progging for further then as the season to sow what in eternity we would ●eap Death being thus stated and certain God has mercifully seconded Nature with his premonitions to man how to encounter and overcome the force and fear of it and that by not only meditating upon Gods decree For all men once to dye but also by pawsing upon those written parts of Gods pleasure introducing to the maine conclusion Thus we are told of Sorrows of death compassing us Psal. 18. 4. and of being in the valley of death Psal. 23. 4. of being harassed with the terrours of death Psal. 55. 4. Of being brought neer the gates of death Psal. 107. 18. before we sleep the sleep of death and are not these notable Monitors to vigilance and excitations to watch against deaths approach to us as a thief in the night of our security in the Moment of our unpreparation in the midst of our dreams of dainties dalliance and sensuall sinfulness and ought not the possibility of this dismal approximation of death in this moment before the next put us upon prayer to God to fit us for himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrianus Epict●t lib. 2. c. 5. p. 179. by giving us new hearts and forgiving us our old sins that we may be living for him dye in him and after death reign for ever with him Ought not the discovery of the truth that man who is born must dye Perswade us to live and doe and think and dye as those who have Magnaminity and are inspired with thoughts above fearing death or charging God with indurable love or determining goodness For in that he suffers revolutious to be he does not impair his power or kindness but improves

having set an end to all their desires and seen a period of all their labours by the enfranchisement of their departure become from Earths villaines and lifes vassals Gods freemen yea Kings and Priests to God The just consideration whereof if the dictates of pure nature and the assurances of Gods word had any power with men would lenify the thoughts of deaths trouble in the worlds adiew and the body and Souls dissociation because the incontinuity of them does but resolve them into their respective Principle the Body retiring to the dust from whence it came and the Soul to God that gave it Nor is any man happy in life further then he has provided for a good death or in death if he have not the testimony of a good yet of a penitent life my meaning is if before he dye the errors of his life be not expiated for in the palliations of his guilt and Gods ignoscency of them and in the acceptation of his sorrow and person with Gods agnition of him for a dyer in him That is in the beliefe and assurance of his forgivenesse and filiation which once had the soul cannot but trample upon despondency and bid defiance to despair since Christ justifies it is too late for any to condemn if life makes us debtors to nature the whole Creation being but as one lump of power and mercy masshed together in the common fatt and fate of vicissitude and the providence and wisdom of God brewing us together till we work out the Lees of sin and nature and become defecate or as neer it as the pleasure of our maker design'd us to arrive at and by our respective proportions to auxiliat the productions and gradations of succession towards perfection then to dye when we have lived our time and out-lived our innocence by as many degrees as we have at all lived is but the payment of our debt to nature and the surrender of our forfeiture to God and we are to account that a Good death which not so much takes away as betters life because it does rather advance the Soul then depresse the body Bona mors quae vitam non aufert sed transfert in melius bona qua non corpus cadit sed anima sublevatur rerum enim cupiditatibus vi vendo non teneri humanae virtutis est corporum verò similitudinibus speculando non involvi angelicae puritatis est utrumque tamen divini muneris est utrumque excedere teipsum transcendere est Stus Bernardus Serm. 52. in Cant. Cant. for to be in Soul an Angell while in state a man is to be an arriver at what ever God requires and man can attain to in this under-age of Glory And O Nobles and Gentry If death be thus Emolumental if it be the Ladder to heaven if it be the disarray of those uneasy harnassings that sin and life put upon you such as Iob oft calls shaking of the bones Iob. 4. 14. piercing the bones Ch. 30. ver 17. and David calls vexing the bones Psalm 6. 6. If it brings no rest to the bones Psal. 38. 3. breaks the bones Psal. 51. 8. if it streightens the compass and disedges the Divine soul and its faculties in their raptures and sallies and fill the heart with grief the eye with tears and the countenance with wanness and disspiriting then to be by death enlarged and to have a separation of a troublesome match Vivebas antea O beata anima sed in specioso carcere nunc immensus aether palatium est vid●bas sed non nisi per fragiles atque angustas corporeae Massae ●enestras nunc liberè sine transenna sine velamine audiebas sed per sin●osos aurium meaus mortalium eos ing●atos sape sermones nunc dulcissimam caelorum Harmoniam aeternarum intelligentiarum concentus precipis Ludovicus Fabritius in Orat Inaugurali super mo●●em Domini de Saletione and an assignation of body and soul to their proper Spheres is to be released from both the labour and the guilt of sin and to be in the road and upon the march to the Hercules pillar beyond which there is nothing but hope of being more belief of becomming more then you unclarifiedly are and is not this a great motive to be ready to dye and to be advanced by dying well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stus Basilius Mag. p. 229. for as the Sea and the wind and the stars and the compasse and the industry of Seamen and the titeness of the ship well rigg'd well steered are all furtherances to the one attainment of the Port Habitatio ista nec deserviret hominibus ut patria cum in ea nullus nasceretur nec deserviret ut exilium cum in ea nullus exulare mereretur Gulielm Parisiens parte 1. de universo part 3. c. 48. nor do men ordinarily come thither safely and seasonably but by the subserviency of these to the purpose and project of the mind where the designs upon the port are united so neither does any man attaine the Vision of God the Clarification of his nature the Comprehension of happinesse but by the passe of death Which lets us out of toyle and combate into pleasure and quietnesse And that not as pleasure and quietnesse is notioned here which is Planetary and moving as well as tired with vexation and confusion but as it is in Gods presence fullnesse of joy and pleasure for evermore Thus shall a good death befriend the providers for it who only have Confidence in and comfort from it For though God did translate a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stus Basil Mag Orat. p 65. ol 1. Enoch without sight of death as an example by himselfe of a Celestial man who in a sort lived above sin and was taken away without death yet the grave is the usuall Supersedeas to life and death the Port of Mans march off and therefore since nature piety and the interest of both tends to death to set your souls O ye Nobles and Gentry in Order to receive deaths charge is to discharge your selves of being surprised and to receive your charger and enemy with Courage and by victorying his terrours to be victors of the joyes consequent to it which St. Paul intended in that Epinichion which he athletarily chanted out 1 Tim. 4. 7. I have fought the good fight I have finisht my course I have kept the faith Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of righteousnesse SECT XLV Evidences that to meditate of God and the great concerns of the Soul is the way to come unto and come off from Iudgment Honourably MY last and not least Argument to beseech ye O Nobles and Gentry to think of God and of the great concerns of your soules is that thereby ye may come off honourably in the day of judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stus Basil. Mag. Epist. ad virgin laps p. 755. operum 2 Thes. 2. 8.

them as by them he makes way for the worlds Circum●erence and the succession of the Elementary Vigour in its Specifique appearance and respective usefulnesse Hearken to this O ye who pish at the day of death and live as if ye were born ever to live and never to dye and be judged and Condemned for an evill life and an impenitent death Consider this ●ee Nobles and Gentlemen The mortality of whose ancestors has made way for your being and bravery and since ye being born of corruptible seed must be corruptible in your bodies do not live as if you never meant to dye or come for an evil life to judgement Can you hold out the seige of deaths terrours and repell the force of his assaults can you peep into the Counsells of the Almighty and seize his judgments for your prisoners are your eyes all light your feet all wing your fingers all force your weapons all steele your armour all proof can you make time stand at your big words or diseases keep off for your grim looks Have ye the art to fix the fluency of life wrapping up its motion in a punct of consistence beyond which it shall not stirr are yee Masters of those millions of accidents that your sins have 〈◊〉 against made mischievous to and masterfull over ye Can ye corrupt the last Judge Can ye dwell with everlasting burnings Can ye turn your sins red as scarlet to become white as Wool Are ye stronger then he that made the world and all in it Or wiser then he that rules the world and all the concerns of it Or durabler then he that is from everlasting to everlasting If thus ye be furnished then reproach his Champion Marshall your Forces produce your Artillery beat up the Drums and sound the Trumpets of your defiance and reverse the sentence of death by Force and enact your priviledge from the fate and certainty of death But if ye have less force to encounter lesse prudence to regulate lesse certainty to overbear and vanquish death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thucyd lib. 2. p. 158. then death has to subdue you and your Fancyed greatnesse Then kisse the Son of God while you are in the day and on the way of life to death and so compose your selves in life against your change That your death may not become your torment nor your dissolution your despair O Consider God holds the glass of time in his hand and as he has appointed to ●very thing its season so is it to act and not otherwayes and though in the course of nature Youth has a larger Circuit and greatnesse a probabler trench ●bout it then age or meanness has which ● as it were naked exposed to every haz●rd yet so can God errand accidents ●nd so leaven the advantages that most ●rprise and detain you That they shall ● miserable Comforters to you What de●ght do Titles and Honours give to ●e torture of the cout Or what ease ●o Treasures or Mannors present to the ●exation and anguish of the stone What ●eliefe does the fame of strong beautiful ●eloved Minister to the torment of a ●roken limb or what comforts come to a ●angreen'd body from Fomentations of ●●sts and Baths of pleasure Doe the ●●lls of Couscience own suppling from ●ires of Musick or the Hells of despair ●●ap cooling from merry company doth ●ot God often reach Pharoah's power ●nd pride with Armies of Insects and ●ortify the First born of Countryes to ●proach the folly of Mortall insolence ●ould Herods Oratory that spake him a ●od free him from dying like a man or ●●ther like a beast Or Selymus the Firsts ●mbition who vowed conquest of Europe ● of Asia Turkish History p. 561. not meet with a Canker that ●ulled him back to buriall He that can ●ise up death and envigour faintnesse ● Cebelits to be his Executioner upon the p. 209. victorious Amurath and can disselse the subtilty of Duns Scotus by an Apoplexy which shall conclude his Learning with his life he that is the Lord of life and death and does whatsoever he pleases in order to life and death he only is the Fountaine of content and the hope and happinesse of the Soul and to him and to his joyes we are carryed by death and hereupon because death is beneficiall to good men it is desired entertained resigned to Mors timenda non est quia vita adimitur sed quoniam acerba mors nihil aliud est quam vitae sceleratae Carnisex dict●m Bruxilli morientis ad Senatu●● Guevara Horolog Princip lib. 1. c. 6. by them with all chearfulnesse The very Heathen said Death was not t● be feared because it determined life bu● because a bitter death was nothing else bu● the Executioner of a wicked life And Christians inasmuch as Christ has by tasting death sweetned it to and victor'd i● for them ought to meet it at Gods time and upon his account with joy and spiri●tual Triumph as it is Vehiculary of the● to Christ as it is the conclusion of thei● sorrowes and the buriall of their sins as it is the expedient that only can unit their hopes and feares their faith wit● their fruition whereupon St. Bernar● writing to his friend uses this Meditatio● I would have thee if not escape yet not at a● to fear death sor a holy man though he ca●not sometimes avoid death yet ever ought ● ● beware fear of it Volo te mortem etsi non effugere certe vel non timere justus quippe mortem si non cavet tamen non pavet bona mors si peccato moriarts justitiae vivas Bona mors justi propter requiem melior propter novitatem optima propter securitatem mala mors peccator●m in mundi amissione pejor in carnis separatione pessima in vermis ignis duplicis contritione Stus Bernardus Ep. 104. ad Gualteruns de Calvo mon●e for if it be a good death ●hich a good man dyes to sin and lives to ●ighteousnesse it is an ill fear that makes a ●an avoid so Good an expression of Gods ●race and mercy the death of a holy man is Good for therest he hath from his labours ●etter for the change he hath of his life his ●bour his Company his reward best for 〈◊〉 security he hath against lapse or ●●verter of evill to him whereas the ●eath of the wicked man is bad in the ●ss of the world his Paradise worse in the ●peration of his Flesh worst in the worm of ●●nscience and fire of Hell which after it he ●ust everlastingly be punished in Thus St. ●ernard And is death thus advantageous to ●ood men then is the thought of death the ●ost necessary and healthfull theme the ●ul at its senses can take Comfort from ●ust death come because it is appointed ●y God the wages of sin Must the se●ond death follow where in the sting and ●orrour of it the first is not passed Must ●e day of death be