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conscience_n heaven_n hell_n worm_n 1,015 5 11.0094 5 false
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A29183 The life and death of the godly man exemplified in a sermon preached Nov. 12, 1676, at the funeral of that pious and faithful minister of Christ, Mr. Thomas Wadsworth / by R.B. Bragge, Robert, 1627-1704. 1676 (1676) Wing B4203; ESTC R20214 19,604 40

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Sincerity I will add but one thing more and so I shall have done with this first part of the Text it is to mind you of that Scripture you have in Ecclesiastes 7.29 God made man upright at first but he sought out many inventions This Uprightness my Brethren was a part of that perfection wherewith Man was endow'd in his Primitive state but man had no sooner fallen but presently he discovered the doubling of his Spirit with God and seeks for hidings and coverings to himself Since the fall our hearts are as full of this deceit this falshood as ever they can hold the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked above all that we are able to know we have the poison of the Serpent in us and are become full of turnings and windings you may see it in your little Children one of the first things they learn is to lye and to equivocate and to excuse and to hide things and to play the Hypocrites I say we have it all in us by Nature By Nature we do seek our selves and aim at our selves in all we do and not God Do not think that the Pharisees only were prone to this Hypocrisie to draw nigh to God with their lips and to have their hearts far from him or to do Duties to be seen of men I tell you we have every one a Pharisee in our bellies therefore we have need to beg of God that he would make us upright again and to pray as David did Lord create in me a new heart and renew a right spirit within me I come now to speak of his death and I see I must be shortest there where I thought to have been longest having been longest already where I intended to be shortest well the end of this man is peace His end is peace in a twofold opposition First To a wicked man though his life may be pleasant and his way smooth and strew'd with Roses yet his end is bitterness his Death-bed stuft with Thorns as the Cloud which had a bright side toward the Israelites had a dark side to the Egyptians so Death that hath a bright side to a godly man it hath a dark and blackside towards a wicked man as they say in Logick the conclusion always follows the worser part So it is with the wicked his conclusion follows the worser part of his premises Secondly His end is peace in opposition to his own life Perhaps a godly mans life may be full of trouble he may meet with many Temptations with great Trials but his end is peace he shall be brought to a quiet Port and land on a shore of Rest But how is a godly mans end peace and why is it peace Let me speak a little of these two How is his end peace His end is peace these five ways First If you take Peace for Peace with men so his end is Peace he doth endeavour as much as in him lies to live peaceably with all men and he desires to die in peace with all men As he did not live in Quarrels so he doth not die in Quarrels he doth not suffer the Sun of his Life to go down upon his Wrath. Possibly men are at War with him malign him persecute him even unto death as they did Stephen yet he is at amity with them and prays Lord lay not this sin to their charge And with Christ Father forgive them for they know not what they do He hath learnt that Lesson which Nature will never teach a man Matth. 5 To love his Enemies to bless them that curse him to pray for them which despightfully use him Secondly They have peace with Angels for when they die these blessed Spirits do conduct and accompany their departing Souls unto Abrahams bosom Luke 16.22 and at the Resurrection will gather together the bodies of the Elect from all corners of the Earth where their dust hath been scattered Heb. 1.17 We read how Angels who are Executioners of Gods Judgments upon the wicked do stand ready to avenge the quarrel of God upon his Enemies as Joab the Captain of David's Host was ready to have taken off Shimei's head when he cursed the King if he had but said the word These Angels which are the Hosts of God are sent forth as ministring Spirits as friends to the Saints Thirdly His end is peace with God God is reconcil'd to him and he is reconcil'd to God and to all his ways being justified by faith we have peace with God no more anger in his Bosom no more frowns in his Face towards him but all his anger is turned into Love Oh that peace of God which passeth all understanding that fills his heart and mind What a sweet thing is it my Brethren to be at peace with that God whom we have so offended by our Sins to have his Face smiling upon us and his Arms embracing us Who knows the sweetness of such smiles but those that have felt his frowns therefore Christ calls them his Friends for a man when he lies sick to have the bosom of a reconciled God and Father to be his pillow and when he dies to die in the Arms of Christ this must make it sweet dying indeed Fourthly He hath peace in his own Conscience peace in his own Bosom This is our rejoycing the testimony of a good conscience and that bird in the bosom does oftentimes sing most sweetly when the man draws nearest to his death Great peace have they that love thy law says the Psalmist and nothing shall offend them thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee This follows upon our reconciliation with God peace of Conscience that is more worth than a Thousand worlds and to have Conscience to be our enemy continually accusing and upbraiding of us striking us with fear to have the worm gnawing in the Soul before the worms are feeding on the flesh This is a continual dropping this is an Hell upon earth As a good Conscience is a Heaven begun so an evil guilty Conscience is a Hell begun That is a fourth thing they have peace of Conscience as the sting of death is taken away so the sting of Conscience is taken away likewise Fifthly and lastly His end is peace for he enters into peace into full and perfect peace so in Isaiah 57.1 2 Where the Prophet is bemoaning the righteous mans death that no man lays it to heart he shews that they need not lay his death to heart in reference to him for he enters into peace And so Simeon Luk. 2.29 30 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation and blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours In the Third Region the upper Region of the Air they say there are no Clouds nor Storms no Thunder nor Lightning In the Third Heavens in those coelestial Mansions I am sure there are no troubles no