Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	body_n	fear_v	life_n	4,543	5	5.0312	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07756	The defence of death Contayning a moste excellent discourse of life and death, vvritten in Frenche by Philip de Mornaye Gentleman. And doone into English by E.A.; Excellent discours de la vie et de la mort. English	Mornay, Philippe de, seigneur du Plessis-Marly, 1549-1623.; Aggas, Edward.; Seneca, Lucius Annaæs, ca 4 B.C.-65 A.D. aut	1576 (1576)	STC 18136; ESTC S119578	52,296	134

yet quake therat their hart faileth them at their néeds they be afraid and yet is the chéef cause of this their fear no other then the fear it self Let them not alledge that they doo learne to indure the sorowe for that were but bace and a simple couer for their sclēder fa●…th They had rather lan guish perpetually in y pain of y ● ●…oute the Sciatica y stone or such like thē at once to die of a swéet death which comprehendeth the least sorow in the world they had rather to die ●…ēber after mēber so as ye would say to ouer lius their sences moouings actiōs thē alto gither to die to the end to liue eternally Let thē not aledge neither that they wold in this worlde learne to liue for euery man of him self is sufficiently taught that alredy no man is ignorant in that occupation But we must learne in this world to dye and for the obtaining of one good death we must in our selues dye dayly preparing vs as if the end of euery day were also the end of our life wheras contrariwise nothing dooth more offend our eares then to heare of death Oh sencelesse men we doo habandon our liues to th' ordinary hazards of war for twentie shillings matter In hope of some smal botie we be the first at the assaulte running into places frō whēce there is no hope of return and that ma ny times with the danger bothe of our bodyes and soules And yet for the exempting of vs out of all dangers for the conquest of incōparable treasures and for the entrie into euerlasting life we doo refrain from setting forward of one step wherin is no dificultie or danger at all but only fear to witholde vs Yea we doo so stick there that were it not that whether we will or no we must passe the said step God euen against our willes wil doo vs good hardely throughout all the whole worlde we should finde any one how miserable or wretched soeuer he were that willingly would passe that way Others wil say had I liued fiue or six score yéeres I could euen be cōtent I care for no longer life but me thinks to die so young it were against reason I would knowe the world before I go out of it Ah poor ignorant man y thou art in this world there is nōe either young or olde Olde age compared with that is past with that that is to come is but one only period Hauing liued to the age that now thou disiredst all thy time passed will be as nothing thou wil●… stil gape after time to come Of the time past thou shalt haue only a gréef thou shalt wait for time to come of time present thou shalt reap no contentation Thou wilt be as ready to demaunde respite as be fore Thou fliest from thy creditor moneth after moneth tearm after tearm as ready to pay him at the last as at the first and yet seeing you must néeds pay him as good at the first as at the last Thou hast tasted all the pleasures which the world accounteth of none of them are dainty to thée drink thou neuer so often thou art neuer the fuller for this body which thou cariest is as the bottomlesse pail of the Danaides which can neuer be filled It wil be sooner worne out thē thou wery of vsing or to speak more truly of abusing the same Thou requirest long life but only to lose it to waste it out in tri●…ing pleasures and to spend it in vain matters Thou art Couetous in desiring and prodigall in spending Tel not me that thou complainest of the Court or of the Pallaice either that thou wouldest yet doo some more seruice to thy common welth or Contrie or euen to God him self For he that hath set thée on woork knoweth the time and houre that thou shalt continue he can guide thy woork manship if he should leaue thée there any lōger it may be thou wouldest mar all If he be content liberally to paye thée for thy woork and to giue thée as much wages for thy half dayes woork as if thou haddest wrought al day long for labouring til noone as if thou haddest borne the heate of the whole day hast not thou so muche the more cause to thank and praise him But entring into thine owne conscience Thou be wailest not the cause of the Widowe or of the Orphane whome y hast left at the point of iudgement neither the end of the sonne the father or the fréend whiche thou protestest to restore The imbassage of the com mon welth whiche thou wert ready to take vppon thée either els the seruice that thou desirest to doo to GOD who knoweth much better what seruice to reap of thée then thou doost thy self Thou be waylest thy houses and thy Gardens Thou monest thy purposes and vnperfect deuises Thou lamentest thy life in thine eye vnperfect which neither dayes yéeres ne worlds were able ●…o finish and yet thy self in the least moment mayst ende if thou wilt but once earnestly thinck that it skilleth not how they be ended so they be wel ended And well to finish this life is no other thing then willinglye to end it following of our owne accor●…es the will and Conduct of God and not to permit our selues tobe haled after the necessitie of our destinie For to end it willingly is to hope for and not to feare death To hope for it is assuredly to waite for a better life after this and to wait for a better life is to feare God whom whoso ●…areth néed not certainly to feare any thing in this world but to hope fo●… all things in the other Death can not be other then gentle and acceptable to all that in those points are throughly resolued because they k●…owe assuredly that therby they shall enter in to an habitation of all goodnes The sorowe that might be therin shall bée mixed with gentlenes The patient abiding shall be drunck with hope The sting of death it self shall be killed for all this sting is nothing but feare thus much 〈◊〉 wil say more that not only all the euil which we take to be in death shall be as nothing vnto them but also they shall laugh at the mishappes that others doo fear in this life and shall euen mock all their doubtes For I pray you what can he ●…eare which hopeth to die Doo his enemies thinck to driue him out of his cuntry he knoweth y he hath a countrie in another place from the which they cannot driue him and that all these Countryes are but so manye ny Innes from whence they must depar●… part whensoeuer it pleaseth their hosf shall he bée cast into prison●… a straiter prison or more filthy darke sul of racks and forments can they not commit him into thē his owne body Wil they put him to death and so take him out of this world That is it that so long he hath hoped for

common in vs for our life is but a continuall death euen so long as we liue so long doo we die as we doo growe so dooth our life diminish We let not one step so soon into life but as soon we set an other into death Who so hath liued a third parte of his yéeres hath also passed a third part of his death and who the tone halfe is alredy halfe dead So much of our life as is passed is dead that whiche is present dooth liue and dye togither and that whiche is to come shall likewise dye That that is past is no more that that is to come is not yet and that that is present bothe is and is not To be bréefe all this life is but death It is as a candle lighted in our bodies In some y winde wasteth it in other some it putteth it out before it be half spent and in other some it suffereth it to continue to the end but be it as it wil according as it lighteth so dooth it burn his light is a burning his flame a vanishing smoke and his last fire is the vttermoste end of his cotton and the last drop of his moisture Euen so is the life of man. The life and death of man is all but one thing If we call the last breth death the like name must we giue to all the rest afore pasied for they all doo procéed out of one place and are all of a like fashion One only difference is there betwéen this li●…e and that whiche we call death which is that during the one we haue alwaies to die after th' other there remaineth nothing b●…t euerlasting life To be breef what soeuer he be whiche thinketh death to be simply the end of mā yet onght he not to fear the same for who so is desirous of lōg life dooth also aske a continuing death who so feareth present death feareth to speak vprightly to haue no longer respite to die But vn to vs y are brought vp in an other maner of schoole death also seemeth an other thing We néed not as the heathē haue any comforte against death but death should vnto vs b●… a co●…ort against all kinde of affliction We must not on●… ly with thē striue not to fear it but rather inure our selues to hope after it It is not to vs an issue vnto sorowe and euil but a path to all goodnes To vs it is no end of life but an end of death and a beginning of euerlasting life Better saith Salomō is the day of death thē the ●…oure of birth why because it is not to vs a last day but y birth of an euerla sting day We shall during this bright nes no longer bewail the time past but shall stil liue in hope for the time to come For all shall to vs be time present and this time present shall neuer abandon vs We shall no longer consume in vain and sorowful pleasures but shall be replenished with a true and firme ioy We shall no longer labour to beap vp the exhalations of the earth for hea uen shal be ours This masse of Earth which accustomably drew vs towarde the earth shal be in the earth We shall no longer striue to mount from step to step and from honor to honor for we shal be exalted into Heauen abooue all worldly honors from abooue shall we laugh them to scorne that doo wunder at vs whiche doo striue for the válue of a point and like Children fight togither for lesse value then an Aple More combates shall we not sustaine within our selues for our flesh shal be dead but our spirite in ful life our passion buried and our reasō set at libertie Our soule beeing deliuered out of this filthy and stinking prison wherin it hath so long lurked and crouched shal take aire and acknowledging his ancient dwelling place shall call again to minde his former brightnes and dignitie This flesh my fréend which thou féelest and this body whiche thou touchest is not the soule for the soule is borne in heauen and Heauen is his Countrie and aire In that he is inclosed in the body it is as it were by exile and banishment The soule properly is the life and spirite The soule is rather a heauenly and celestiall qualitie exempt from all grose and materiall substance and this body such as it is is no other then a bark or shel ouer the spirit and therfore must of necessitie flée a sunder when we come to our departure if we wil perfectly liue or cléerly behold●… the day We haue as we thinck some life and some féeling but we are altogither impotent we can not stretch out our winges neither can we take our flight into Heauen vntil this earthly masse of flesh be takē from of vs We doo sée but through deceitful spectacles We haue eyes but couered with a filme We think to looke but it is in a dreame wherby we sée nothing but lyes What soeu●…r wee haue or knowe is but abuse and vanitie death onely can restore to vs bothe life and sight and yet are we so beastly as to think that she taketh them from vs. We are say we Christians we doo beléeue after this life life euerlasting We acknowledge that death is but a separation of the bodye and the soule that the soule shall returne to his blessed rest for to reioyce in God who only is all goodnesse and that in the last day shee shall againe put on her body which then shall be no more subiect to corruption We doo fil all our Bookes with this goodly discourse and yet comming to the point the onely name of death as the moste horrible thing in the worlde maketh vs to quake and tremble If we beléeue that y we haue said what doo we then feare to be happie to be at quiet to liue in greater contentatiō in one moment then euer we could doo in all our mortall life how long so euer it hath beene Either we must confesse wil we nil we that we beléeue but to halues that we haue nothing in vs but woords and that all our discourses euen as of these valiant table Knights are but vaunts and vanities and therfore see what we say We knowe that departing out of this life we shall passe to a better and therof we doute not at all but we fear the great passage that is betwéen them both which we must ouercome O ●…aint hárted mē They wil slay them selues for the getting of their miserable life They wil suffer a thousand gréefs and wounds at the request of other men they wil passe a thousād dāgers of death without stumbling for the getting of transitorie goods whithe peraduenture wil cause them to perish with thē and yet hauing but one step or passage to go ouer for y obtaining of their ease not for a day but for euer not any kinde of ease but suche an ease as man is not able to cōprehend doo

wherin moste mortall men doo stay abuse them selues the body is slain the minde vexed and the soule cōdemned without any pleasure or contentation at all Now then let vs come to ambition which with desire of honor dooth fondly bewitch the mightyest in the worlde shall we ther in finde any more ease thē in the other or not rather lesse The other deceiueth vs in yéelding in liew or all rewards onely the vile dirt of the earth this féedeth vs with nothing but smoke and winde The presents of this are vain and the gifts of the other course In either of them we slide into a bottomlesse pit how beit this of the twain is the most dangerouse notwith standing the water séemeth more pleasant cléer Among those that haue imbraced ambition some doo obtain great estematiō among Kings Princes other becōe gouernors ouer armyes and so others in their degrée their inferiors doo salute reuerēce and worship them they are apparelled in purple scarlet and cloth of golde in beholding of them it séemeth there is no contentation in the world but theirs But fewe men knowe the weight of an ounce of thi●… their glory and honor how much these reuerences doo cost them or what is the price of all this rich aray in their Purses for vnderstanding the trueth they would be loth to buy any so déere Some through long and tedious seruice haue attained to this degrée some by hazaroing their liues at all assaies yea 〈◊〉 at the cost of an arme or a leg and that at the appetite of a Prince who perhaps accounteth more of a hundred Rods of land within his neighbours dominions then of the life of an hundred thousande suche as they are beeing héerin vnhappy in that they serue him who careth not for them and fooles in that they thinck thē selues in reputation with him whiche estéemeth so little of the losse of them for a tri●…e thing of nothing Others haue gotten fauoure by flatterye hauing of long time inured their tungs to vndiscrese spéeches and their handꝭ to vnlaw ful dealings saying and dooing what so e●…er their prince willeth them whervnto a good hart could hardly be wun They haue paraduenture patiently borne infinite iniuries spytings and reuilingꝭ yea how familier so euer they séem with their prime they doo not with standing resemble him who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the taming of a wilde Lion through long patience with infinite baits and many scratchings bitings haue brought him to some order dare ueuertheles scarce deliuer him any food with their hand stil fering lest he shuld catch hold of the same yet be he neuer so ware is once a yéer intrapped sufficiētly rewarded for a lōg time For such for the moste parte is the end of all the princes darlings who whē he hath by long bre things exalted any so hie as y he should account him self at his ●…orneys end thē sudainly dooth he delight to cast the same partie down hedlōg again as low as he was at the first yea him whō he hath mightelye inriched he doth afterward wrīg as a spūge They also do loue nōe but thē selues supposing eche one to be created only for their seruice plesure These blinde cortiers doo perswade thē selues to haue many fréendꝭ tobe had in great estimation among many not cōsidering the euery man honoreth them w like harts as they honor others The mightie men doo disdain thē saluting them only in scorne the inferior sorte doo reuerence them for the they stand in ●…éed of thē therin doo worship their ●…catiō seat apparel not their persōs And as for those which bée equall amōg whōe amitie ought to take some place they boil with enuye one slaundereth an other eche one trippeth another and doo continually pine away either with their owne discōmodities or at others aduauncement for enuy béeing in ●…a ner an ache of the minde is the greatest gréef that can be and thus doo you sée those menne quite deuoide of amitie which among all wise men is euer accounted a moste excellent and souerain commoditie Yea you shall more plainly yet vnderstand that when Fortune turneth her back to them all men doo flée their companyes and when shee snarreth at them euery man looketh awry vpon thē so that béeing once spoiled of their triumphant robes no man will knowe them Also contrarywise some Kuffian or infamous person shall be clothed in their apparell who without difference in vertue or title shall inherite their calling possesse all their former honors and puffe them sel ues vp in pride like vnto the Asse whiche bare the Image of the Goddesse Isis who was proude of so many curtesies as were doone to the same and finally that Fortune rideth them like Asses But thou wilt say at the least so long as she continueth they shall take their ease and inioy their owne conten tation and who that hath his pleasure for thrée or foure yeeres more or lesse is not accursed all his life time Yes assuredly vnlesse it be ease to liue in continuall feare of béeing throwne from the step whervnto he hath attained or to desire with great trauail to clyme still hyer and hyer Those my fréend whōe thou accountest at their ease because thou séest but the outsides of them are farre other wise within their inwarde partes are strong prysons ful of dungeons holes darchnesse serpents and torments Thou thinkest their lodgings large which in their opinions are very strait Thou supposest them very high but they account them selues to be very lowe Yea and often he which but thinketh himself sick is wurse at ease then he which is sick in déed And there be some euen Kings who think them selues but slaues indéed are nothing els for we are nothing but in opinion Thou see●…t them accompanyed with many souldiors and the same whome they haue chosē for their garde doo they mistrust Alone or in company they are alwaies in feare béeing alone they look behinde them and in company round about them They drinck in vessels of golde or siluer and that is the same rathen earth or glasse wherin men fil and drink poyson They haue their beds very soft and delicately trimmed vp neither may they heare a mouse ron thorowe their chamber or suffer a flye to come néere their faces when as a poore contry mā sléepeth by the noise of a spring or in a market place hauing no bed but earth nor couering but heauen and yet these men amōg all their quietnes and daintie lodging doo nothing but turne and tosse vp and downe in their beds still imagininge that they heare some stirring yea euen their rest takes no rest at all To be bréefe wilte thou knowe the difference betwéene them and the hardest intreated prisoners Either of them are chained vp eche of them beareth a waightie burthen vppon them but in that the one is of Iron and the other of Golde so is the one chained but in body and