Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	good_a	great_a	1,782	5	2.3872	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53333	The blessedness of good men after death a sermon preach'd at the funeral of the Revd. Mr. Henry Cornish, B.D., who died on Sunday, Decemb. 18th, in the eighty ninth year of his age and was interred on Thursday, Decemb. 22d, 1698, in the Church of Bisiter, in the County of Oxford : with a preface to rectifie some misrepresentations &c. in a late pamphlet, entitled Some remarks on the life, death, and burial of the said Mr. Cornish / by John Ollyffe ...	Ollyffe, John, 1647-1717.	1699 (1699)	Wing O286; ESTC R7832	31,135	36

not he had learned from his Great Lord and Master who was kind unto all and who by his Pattern and Precepts had made Universal Love the great Character of his Religion And by this means one would think He could not have many Enemies For who could find in their Hearts to be Enemies to one in whom there was resplendent so much Goodness And this Goodness was set off by a profound Humility and low Condescension and Respect to the Meanest the Lowest the Least By this He was apt to prefer others before himself and to set a Value upon the Parts and Performances of some Young Persons above his own Gray headed Knowledge and Experience By this Kindness and Humility his Self-distrust and Self-abasement He was preserved from the Fiery and Furious Zeal which is the Blemish of some of all Parties that differ in some Circumstantials of Religion and Worship He could not imagine why a Difference in some Circumstantials should make Men Hate and Curse one another among whom there was a good Accord in the Main and Substantial Points of Christian Doctrine Therefore He could bear a Kind and Friendly Respect to other Good Men of other Perswasions besides his own as He would hope for the like from them He had a great Calmness in his own Temper but He was Forward and Fervent in Spirit in the Service of his God as appeared in his Devotions in a Private but much Honoured Family where I have heard him And his long and continu'd Labour in the Service of God in that Way wherein He thought He might Glorifie God even to extreme Old Age is a great Instance of his Delight therein of his Pious Zeal for the promoting of Religion and of his Earnest Desire of the Eternal Welfare of Men. He always appeared to me to be one of Eminent Piety of Exact Walking of an Healing Spirit and to be full of Love to God and Good Men of different Denominations He was not for a Wrangling or Disputative Divinity which tends to Gender Strife but for Plain Practical Godliness in its Life and Power which hath always indeed most Sweetness in it and so will especially appear to have at the last His Afflictions I hear in many Respects have been many but that his Faith and Patience also have been as Eminent Wherein He deserves as in many other Things your Pious Imitation In a Word He Lived long in the Exercise of Piety towards God and of Good Will to Men and how He Died you know I could gladly have enlarged much more upon his Character but these few Things I could not but mention being always bound to have his Memory in Honour For I must ever acknowledge I have had him of Old in many Respects my Friend in some Respects as my Father and Patron and in some others a Guide and Director when I first entred my self upon this Sacred Function This Acknowledgment I cannot but take this Opportunity to express nor do I know any just Reflections that any can make upon it I shall now only make an Inference or two from what I have said on the foregoing Subject and then Conclude First To Comfort and Prepare Good Men for the Expectation of their Death that they may not be Frighted at the Approach of it as such a Dreadful Thing it being most certain that when they remove out of this Tabernacle they enter into an Estate of present Bliss in the presence of their Lord. If the Soul indeed were to lye in a stupid Lethargy in the Grave and have no more Sense or Reflection or Enjoyment after the time of Dissolution they should desire to continue here as long as they can that they may bring more Honour to God in the World and so might further their Reward hereafter thereby And they might have just Cause to take Death for their Enemy whensoever it comes that should deprive them of so great Advantages here and bring them none in the room But there is no fear of all this The Soul is an Active Spark the Breath of the Almighty which whilst it is in the Body by the Laws of Union that were fix'd in the Original Creation by the great Creator must sympathize with it But when the Body is no longer a tolerable Habitation for it it will then Dislodge and take its Flight and the Holy Angels wait to carry it aloft through all the Airy Armies of invisible Fiends to place it above out of the reach of all their Malice For the Soul is a Thinking Substance which hath no Relation to Matter but is of another Nature from it and hath quite other Properties in its Idea And being Immaterial it is not subject to Putrifaction or Dissolution of Parts because it hath no Parts and therefore none to be dissolved but must in its own Nature Subsist and Live still But whatever the Philosophy of the Soul may be we have full assurance from Divine Revelation of its continued Life and greater Perfection and Enjoyment after Death than before Mat. 10.28 Our Saviour told his Disciples That Men tho' they might kill the Body yet were not able to kill the Soul and therefore bid them not be affraid of them Rom. 8. The Body indeed must Die because of Sin but the Spirit the better part is Life because of Righteousness So that Good Men have no Cause to be mightily Affrighted at the Approach of Death For tho' it be the King of Terrors to outward appearance yet they may look upon it as a Routed or Conquered Enemy as a Serpent that hath lost its Sting and Strength which howsoever it may Hiss and show its Rage and Fury yet cannot hurt So that Good Men may Triumph over it and over all Things else besides because neither Death Rom. 8.38 nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor Things present nor Things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate them from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But in and over all these Things they are more than Conquerors through him that Loved them Death is now rather a Friend to them the Messenger of the great King to invite them to his Supper which he hath prepared for them The same Comfort there is at the Departure of Others Friends and Relations that Die in the Lord. For now they are past from all their Labours and Troubles from all their Fears and Dangers their Pains and Sufferings whatsoever and are gone but to take Possession of the Promised Crown It is a Loss to us indeed that they are gone and Self-Love makes us to Mourn and Complain at it But what do They lose in leaving us or the World and the little Accommodations of this Life that are now entered upon the Possession of the Inheritance Tho' we lose by them because they are gone yet we ought not sure to Grudge at their Happiness Secondly To Exhort all to the Faith and

another And that he often chose to make as it were some Apology for keeping up a separate Meeting in opposition to the Church and would say he was brought thither by the invitation and importunity of such as were good People And that it was not his Intention to keep them altogether from the Church but should sometimes set them an Example of going thither himself And that he did at first resolve to begin and end his Publick Exercises at such Hours as should not interfere wirh the Solemn Service of the Church but dismiss them from one place to attend at the other And that he seemed to desire no better Character than what had been freely given to his Predecessor Mr. Troughton by one who as this Reflector saith had not the Custom to flatter that Party who was very moderate c. And that he seemed to value himself on this Happiness that he had received Holy Orders from a Bishop of the Church of England That he Married one of his Daughters to a Conforming Divine and used his Interest to possess him of a better Benefice under the Condition of Subscription and Declaration which the Law required Concerning which Relations and others which he adds I know nothing except that barely of the Marriage of his Daughter and therefore could say nothing of them But I think even from this Reflector's account of him I have Reason also to conclude That this Good Man's Pains and Zeal were intended by him not for the promoting of Divisions and Disorders but of the Service of God and of true Piety and Holiness which was what I aimed at in that which I said of him in that part of his Character Therefore to conclude this I cannot yet be perswaded but that what I said of this Worthy Man was downright Justice to his Memory and not Fawning or Flattery as this Reflector would insinuate But there is another Thing it seems that raised the Indignation of this Reflector viz. That in all my Discourse there was not a word of Exhortation to Unity and Peace nor so much as wishing those People to come more frequently to that Holy Place where they were now Assembled and where their Beloved Teacher chose to lie at Rest That there was nothing he saith but an Applause of the Person and then a silent Consent to the Merits of the Cause And thereupon he insinuates as if I made Conformity and Separation indifferent Things as if I was an Advocate for Indifference in Communion and had cowardly betrayed that Altar to the Service whereof I had been legally Ordained For my part I cannot but wonder at this Reflector's Discourse and by what Logick he could ever infer That the Applause and Commendation of a Person for his Goodness and Zeal for the promoting of Piety which was all that I designed and my omitting of that which did not concern me at that time could be a silent Consent to the Merits of a Cause or that it was to be an Advocate for indifference in Communion to say nothing at all about it But a little Wit and a great deal of ill Nature by the help of spightful Innuendo's will be able to infer any thing from any thing But I must tell this Reflector That that was no part of my Business at that time which he expected of me My Business was to Preach a Funeral Sermon at the Interment of an Old and Good Friend from whom I had received formerly many Obligations to which I was called by the Friends of the Deceased and for the doing of which they had obtained leave of the Minister of the Town In this Sermon I did endeavour plainly and familiarly which it seems was a Fault with some to represent some Things which might be for the Consolation of Good People against the fears of Death and to exhort and encourage others to espouse Religion which had so great Advantages attending upon it And this I think by this Reflector's leave was a proper Subject for such an Occasion And this Subject I having chosen this I was to pursue But yet could not omit saying something tho' it was but a little and I think if I committed any Fault it was in saying too little out of Gratitude and hearty Respect to the Memory of my Reverend and good Friend Departed But I could not think it any part of my Business upon that Occasion to insist upon the Points of Unity and Schism Let my Thoughts or Opinion about them have been what they would or tho' they were never so much such as this Reflector would have them therefore I think the Reflector blames me without Cause as guilty of a grand Omission of that which was nothing to the purpose of what I was then about but it seems to me would have been a downright Solecism at a Funeral Solemnity And I have never observed That Excursions of this Nature have ever had any good Effect but directly the contrary Yet I can assure this Reflector and do profess to him That I have as much desired and longed for the Peace of the Church its Security and Establishment and the Union of Dissenters to it that all our Animosities might be composed our Breaches healed and our Differences happily brought to an end as ever any hungry Man did long for his Meat and Drink and would be glad to promote it by all proper Means I am sure it is for the interest of Religion for the advancement of the Name and Honour of our great Lord and Master to have the Church of God at Unity within it self It is that which would make the Church it self Glorious and Venerable and formidable to all its Enemies or rather it will be the way to have no Enemies at all when they shall see the happy Effects of the Christian Doctrine upon the Lives and Spirits of Men and Love Charity and good Will planted and fructifying in the Christian World I am very sure from the Apostle That the whole Body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every Joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the Measure of every part maketh encrease of the Body unto the edifying of it self in Love Eph. 4.16 And therefore all that could be done should be done towards the procuring of this mutual Love and the settling of Concord among all the Members of this Body All proper Means should be made use of all Methods taken any way any expedient tried that can be unnecessary occasions of Contention should be removed Concessions made and yielding on all sides and if one Thing will not do then another and another should be tried like Physick in a difficult Case And it would be all worth the while for the promoting of Christian Love and Charity which is so great a part of Religion and which is so helpful to all the rest And 't is Religion that we must aim at and which all Things whatsoever should subserve to Order Government Discipline Ordinances Ministers and Ministry