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	soul_n	time_n	1,787	5	3.7088	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47297	A funeral sermon for the Right Honourable, the Lady Frances Digby, who deceased at Coles-Hall in Warwickshire, on the 29th of September, 1684 by John Kettlewell ...	Kettlewell, John, 1653-1695.	1684 (1684)	Wing K368; ESTC R657	17,382	39

could not allow her self to say ill of any nor could lend a Word or spare as I said so much as a Smile in approbation when others did and therefore whensoever the Faults and Blemishes of Persons was the Topick of Discourse it was little she had to speak But tho' her Discourse was the less upon that account yet I am sure the Example is good and it was the more innocent and profitable which makes an abundant amends for it In a word She was a truly excellent and amiable Person plentifully indow'd with those Qualities that may gain Love and with those Virtues which deserve Imitation And she had this Testimony of her Worth which shews not only the reality but the greatness of it she was not as too many others are liked best at first but still grew higher in esteem as she was longer and better known For she had such a Stock of true and solid Goodness as could not be discovered especially thro' the Vail her Modesty cast before it till Time drew it out and still administred matter to those that beheld her for a new and growing Affection She envied no Persons Condition but was hugely pleas'd and contented in her own She was a sincere Christian an Ornament to her Husband by whom she was dearly Beloved and in her Memory highly Honour'd as she most justly deserv'd it and an extraordinary Blessing to this Family who do resignedly submit to it as to what God has order'd but think the Loss of such a Treasure so great that in this World they dare not hope to meet with any thing that can repair it And what is still the Crown and Glory of all these Perfections amidst all this she was as I hinted so free from Ostentation and so opposite to any thing that looked like seeking Praise as nothing in this World ordinarily can be more She was a Person as of a very great so what makes it greater still of a very conceal'd Goodness She used Arts to hide her Virtues and would hardly be brought to acknowledge any thing to her just Praise and did as truly take pains to avoid the Opinion of being Exeellent in any Endowments as others do to obtain it So that she was like the Sun wrapt up in a Cloud her Rays were cast all inward and so far as she could order it shone only to herself and to Almighty God She would it seems as far as she was able be good altogether for his Sake and seek no worldly Advantage by it But at the same time she aspried to be great in Goodness she shunn'd the Reputation of being thought so Such were the Virtues and so considerable were the Attainments of this Pious Soul in Righteousness And being so well stored in Goodness it may well be expected she should have her share in Comforts and as the Text says have Hope in her Death And so indeed it was Her Death was very sudden suspected by none nor in all appearance by her self till she awaked in the Jaws of it and said she was a Dying This was very short warning But tho' it may be sudden it is never too soon to a Good Christian. A well-spent Life is such a Preparation that altho' it comes the most unexpected it can never take them unprovided but they may meet it upon any intimation But this suddenness tho' it could not indanger the safety yet was it a mighty Tryal of the clear Conscience and firm Hopes of this excellent Person If any thing had stuck upon her or she had been conscious of any thing to affright her then no doubt had been the Time to fear when the Judge had sent the Summons and call'd her in to come before him But whether from the Applause of a clear Conscience which having been hitherto a Faithful Guide proved now a Comfort to her or whether from the intimation of some good Angel that was come to carry off his Charge if Angels do then begin a Correspondence and give kind intimations when a Soul is just leaving the Body and going to Converse and be Fellow-Citizen with themselves From which soever of these Causes I say it hapned thus it was this Happy Soul in that Suprize had a clear chearful Confidence and a foretaste of that Joy and Peace God was preparing for her Tho' she knew she was going in haste she could take time and spend some of those few minutes she had still remaining to declare her mind in some Things which she would have ordered And observing her Nurse that was attending her to fall a weeping with an even and undisturb'd Mind she rebuked her and bid her not to weep for her for she was going to be Happy and to be an Angel in Heaven And thus I have endeavour'd to give some Account of this Excellent Person and to lay out some of those Virtues in her which may bring Honour to God and the greatest Benefit to our selves by our Godly Imitation of them This tho' to some who knew her not or who looked not near or long enough upon her to discover a Goodness so silent and secret it may seem an ample yet to those who knew her best perhaps will appear an imperfect Draught But I pretend not to give a perfect Description of her She was of such a modest Goodness and her Virtues so industriously conceal'd that I believe a just account of them is only known to God and must then only be laid out at large to all the World when he comes to reward openly what was done in secret I have only design'd to draw this Fair Saint in such Virtues as I desire from her Copy to make live things and to translate into others Practice For nothing is more instructing to the World and more like to bring Virtue into Practise than to draw it out in the Lives and Acts of Pious Persons This shews men what they are to do in Religion and withal that it is a feasible thing and therein both directs and excites to Imitation I am sure there is much to be learn'd in such a Pattern as this is and as the World has great need so I hope it will reap some Profit by such Examples What further now remains for us but to preserve the Memory of her Great Virtues always fresh in our Minds and express the Copy of them in our Practice For this is the best way of remembring the Dead which brings in most Advantage to our selves and most Honour to them to imitate what was good in them when the Piety and Humility and Justice and Charity and other Virtues of the Dead are kept alive and shewn in the Conversation of the living It is only these Virtues which carried those who are gone and which can carry us too in the end to a joyful Resurrection Whereto in thy due Time do thou O! Blessed God in thine abundant Goodness bring us all for Christ his sake Amen FINIS * See Mr. Smiths learned discourse of a legal Righteousness among his Sel. Discours c. 3. p. 290. c. * 2 Tim. 1 10. * 1 Cor. 15. 55. * 1 Pet 3. 34.

yet sometimes it is not true that good men have Hope in their Death and ill men want it But tho' it be not always true in Point of Fact yet it always is in the Ground and Reason of it A wicked Liver has always Cause to be dismay'd tho' he will not believe it till he feels it And a Righteous man has always Cause of hope in Death if he has but the understanding to discern it And whether he see it or no he shall be sure to find the Benefit and be a Gainer by it And in this Sense the Words admit of no exception that when the Wicked wants the Righteous has hope in his Death i. e. he has most just Reason so to do In discoursing upon these Words I shall shew 1. Who the Righteous man is to whom this Priviledge belongs 2. What are his hopes that make Death a desirable thing to him which to others is the King of Terrors 3. Apply this to allay our Grief and Sorrow on the Death of Friends 1. I shall shew who the Righteous man is to whom this Priviledge belongs And that is every man who has lead a good Life and has not allow'd himself in any known Sins but had a regard to all Gods Commandments He is one that has led a Godly Life This is the true Test to descry who are Righteous which we are to judge of not from some Religious heats or transient Convictions or good wishes but from the Tenor of a Pious Practice He that doth good saith St. John is of God 3 Joh. 11. and again let no man deceive you in this Point for he that doth Righteousness is Righteous even as he is Righteous 1 Jo. 3. 7. And it is the only sure Ground of Hope for dying Persons He must have lived Holily who would dye happily for it is nothing else but an holy Life that can make happy That is the only sure Preparation for Death since it is the main thing to be inquired of after Death for then men shall all be judged according to their Works Rev. 20. 13. In one Case 't is true good Purposes will make happy tho' a man has never practised them And that is in the Case of such dying Penitents as God sees have both Sincerity and Strength enough of Godly purpopose and by means thereof would certainly Practise well if they had but Time But as for these they are so very few that they seem not to be of any great account in the Description of the Righteous Conversion in the ordinary course goes on by steps Gods Grace is infused and our wicked Lusts are mortified by degrees and without an unwonted and extraordinary Grace which no man must expect and least of all they who have slighted all Gods Gracious offers to the very last it is not to be begun and finished in the last Moments The Righteous ordinarily are only such as have done Righteousness in their Lives and among all the numerous Attempters 't is hard to find those who can succeed and become Righteous by forming good Resolutions upon their Death-beds And as for those who do then become such it is more than they can know themselves For no man that is only beginning to resolve well can know the strength and efficacy of his own Resolutions till he comes to try and Practise them And till he knows that tho' he may have the Safety yet he can not have the Comfort and the hopes of a Righteous man Bare purposes rarely give Safety but never Comfort to a dying Person so that the Hopes of the Righteous must not rest on them alone but have something else viz. a well led Life to bottom on And this Life must have been uniform in all Duties when a man has not allow'd himself in any known Sins but has had a Regard to all Gods Commandments Some parcel out the Law of God and think to be Righteous for performing some particular things This some of the Jewish Doctors made very easie declaring that a man might be Righteous by observing any one Commandment which he pleased For these are some of their Rules Qui dat operam Praecepto liber est a Praecepto He that exercises himself in any one Precept for that time is freed from minding any other And again whosoever shall perform any one of the 613. Precepts of the Law for so many they are according to their reckoning without any worldly respect for Love of the Precept shall inherit thereby Everlasting Life But when they would be more secure and act more commendably they would not content themselves with any of the Precepts indifferently but make a choice according to the estimation which they thought God himself had of them For they fancied that he did not rate all his Laws equally but esteem'd some more than others As the Lawyer plainly shew'd when he desired to be satisfied which was the great Commandment of the Law Mat. 22. 36. and the young man when he ask'd what good thing he should do to have Eternal Life i. e. of all the good things whereto Life is promised whether was the Sabbath or Sacrifices or which other Precept best what was that good thing which would most secure it Mat. 19. 16. And fancying there were some such darling Precepts they thought he was most sure to be acceptably Righteous who had the good luck to hit upon that Command which God most accounted of And the like Opinions tho' God be thanked not authorized by the common sayings of our Doctors are most unhappily got into the Hopes and Practice of too many among our selves nay alas of the generality of Christians For they too often think to pass for Righteous men only on the score of some particular Observances as being constant in Prayers or Liberal in Alms or zealous in Gods Cause especially if that be in some notable instance and perform'd with great hazards without having an Eye all this while to their whole Duty and whilst at the same time they allow themselves in some known Sins But whilst after this rate they mangle the Law of God and parcel out their Duty their thoughts of Righteousness are but a Dream and all their hopes a vain Presumption No Duties will save us when they are singled out from the rest and stand alone but only when they are all in Conjunction St. Paul instances in two viz. Giving all he has to feed the Poor and giving his Body to be burnt in Martyrdom which will easily be allow'd to have preference before all others But yet says he if these go by themselves and have not Charity which as he describes it v. 4. 5. c. besides Alms contains in it many other instances it profits me nothing 1 Cor. 13. 3. The Righteous man then is one who has an eye to all Gods Laws and whensoever he transgresses any doth not allow himself in that breach but rises again by Repentance This is Righteousness in any Person And