Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A44126
|
Two sermons preach'd at the funerals of the Right Honourable Robert Lord Lexington and the Lady Mary his wife by Samuel Holden.
|
Holden, Samuel, fl. 1662-1676.
|
1676
(1676)
|
Wing H2382; ESTC R28098
|
32,373
|
60
|
anothers sufferings What Man in pain deems not his own distemper most insupportable How many does misfortune urge to wish that to themselves which Hezekiah deplores in others That when they being Children came to the Birth there had not been strength to bring forth (z) 2 Kings 19.3 even with Job unwishing their Nativities When we contemplate humane misery and add to that the infirmity of our constitutions Birth seems to render us as capable of wishing Death as secure of meeting it Nor seems Death only the design of Birth but its near Kinsman too for Death is Sleeps Brother sayes the Philosopher and Life 's a Dream sayes the Preacher (a) Eccles 6. A Dream like Pharaohs wherein Men like Beasts devour each other and the worse the better for bad Men prosper by defrauding good Men yet stile they this detestable success by the beloved name of good fortune yet ev'n in this good fortune besides the guilt what great unhappiness lies hid what tortures and what agonies of thought what nips of conscience and what keen reflections The splendid condition of evil Men holy David (b) Psal 37. resembles to a flourishing green Tree and in another Psalm he stiles Man Grass Now rich Men grow like Grass under that Tree much higher and much greener than the rest and sowrer too by much considering their sins and cares and oft too shorter-liv'd by much their too large growth inviting as it were Deaths fatal Sythe Nor does Job mend the character of Life when he compares it to a Poast soon ends the Stage after a restless journey full of haste and dirt But what a pleasant place the Journey ends in Why dread ye Death the Begetter of Ease sayes Menander (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men. What is Death the laying down a heavy Burden sayes St Austin (d) Quid est Mors Depositio Sarcinâ—… gravis Aug. Blessed are the Dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth they rest from their labours sayes the Spirit (e) Rev. 14.13 This great advantage of Death prompted Isidorus Pelusiota to conceive that our Saviour wept not for the decease of Lazarus but because for the belief of the Jews he was to reduce him to that Life that vexatious Life from which Death had absolv'd him The Grave at once shuts up Mans Corps and Cares Hid in the dark there no misfortune finds him The Drum shall beat and yet his pulse not strike a stroke the faster The earth shall blush in her own childrens blood for her own childrens spilling it and yet his visage suffer the complexion neither of shame nor fear Sickness shall come and mingle Fevers with warm Sun-shine till each Neighbor dyes at once his Neighbors wonder and example till weary Graves implore the aid of more capacious Pits yet the Dead shall ne're molest himself with seeking Sanctuary in some distant dwelling where he may live a Coward to each strangers face or dye the business of Deaths further travel Poverty shall come and Want as an armed Man and Friends astonish'd at the sight withdraw like fearful Women yet still shall he lie void of want and care amidst the quiet company of his old Relations in the embraces of corruption to which he may say Thou art my Mother and of the Worms to whom Thou art my Sister and Brother (f) Job 17.4 And this perhaps might be some reason why the Muscovites if we believe (g) Observantur Dies obitus quem anniversariis cele brant epulis Sabel Enn. 10. lib. 3. Sabellicus do annually solemnize the Funerals of Friends with no less pomp than some of us our Nuptials And now so kind is Death so cruel Life that he who covets this deserves not that especially if we consider with Olympiodorus that 3. By Birth we enter into a capacity of actual sin which in the good Death puts an end to And could it but oblige the wicked so the Learn'd suppose that even to the Damn'd Death would be better than Life For penal Evil viz. Suffering is a less Evil than the moral viz. Sinning by how much less it opposes the Supreme Good Sin in the act has no colours but what desie God but Suff'ring wears the Livery of his Justice So that were but the Damn'd exempt from Sinning their posture were much better than this Life which still involves us in it in spight of all their Suffering But even as the Damn'd now are or ever shall be their Birth has nought to boast of over Death for to whom e're it is not good to dye it had been better he had ne're been born But however with the good the case is indisputable His Death outdoes his Birth by undoing Sin Sin Lifes Concubine for it ne're lies from it and Deaths Mother for the Apostle sayes it brings it forth This Mother dyes in bringing forth the Daughter The Viper makes her own Nativity her Dams Funeral revenging on her the harm she did the world in the production of so dire an off-spring Just so does Death destroy the cause of dying The good by suffering it desist to merit it for they desist to sin Hitherto we have consider'd the Obligations of Death in those ills it determines and Birth is swallow'd up in Victory now we must view II. That great Good which it introduces Like night it blots out one day to begin another For Dying makes a Man immortal and that great Argument which proves him but a Man promotes him to society of Angels But then still Death must be what Balaam wish'd O that I might dye the Death of the Righteous Man by his Birth assumes a Life by which he lives in daily likelihood of no longer living but he dyes into an incapacity of Dying We know that we have a House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens WE KNOW sayes the Apostle (h) 2 Cor. 5.1 But why then is it said WHO KNOWS c Eccles 3.21 Quaer Our Translation is somewhat more favourable than either the Greek or Latin or indeed our ancient English Translations for that which we read Who knows the Spirit of Man that ascendeth upwards They render Who knows the Spirit of Man if it ascendeth upwards (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Septuag Si Spiritus c. vul lat Does then the learned Apostle contradict the wise King Or was his knowledge improv'd beyond the reach of Solomons One demands and demanding denies Who knows The other seems to reply We know To reconcile these places the Scotists distinguish betwixt Knowledge by Divine Revelation viz. Faith and Knowledge by Natural Deduction viz. Reason And then they reply that Ecclesiastes only demands this Who knows BY REASON whether the Soul be immortal And the Apostle tells us That although we may not attain the assurance of our Souls Everlastingness by Reason yet We know it by FAITH But this Reply falls short of satisfaction nor can these Texts refer to the Souls Immortality