Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A42697
|
A funeral sermon, preached March 13. 1697/8. For Mr. William Hartley, of Newport-Pagnel, apothecary. By J. Gibbs.
|
Gibbs, John, 1627?-1699.
|
1698
(1698)
|
Wing G663; ESTC R213761
|
12,917
|
26
|
backward and forward 2. Seriously and frequently thinking of it and meditating on it Alas how few are there that busie their Heads in thinking of that which is costing will certainly come and suddenly may come This Subject requires our deepest musing on it Sad will be the surprisal if Death should look in at the Window with his austere Countenance and sit on our trembling Lips before we have seriously thought of it expected it and are prepared for it we shall never wait for that change which we never thought of 3. Dying daily as Paul said of himself 1 Cor. 15.31 not only because of the continual danger he was in for his work-sake but because he was daily making ready for it fighting the good fight of Faith that he might lay hold on Eternal Life as he exhorted his Son Timothy 1 Epist Chap. 6.12 Dying to the World to Sin unto Self and following the Captain of his Salvation to oppose and cut off the Enemies of his Salvation By bringing Death thus unto our selves there undoubtedly will follow choice and excellent Effects As 1. Hiding Pride from us pulling down the high Hearts and high Heads What! shall Mortal dying Dust lift up it self Shall not the consideration of our Frailty bring down our lofty looks When a proud Thought appears reflect on thy Mortality and think with thy self whether such a Thought becomes such a piece of Dust as thou art whose lofty looks ere long must be humbled surely the thoughts and consideration of Death is enough to preserve from self-exaltation 2. Moderating our Affections unto our Creature-Enjoyments and to beget Temperance in our pursuit after and use of them as the Apostle from the consideration of the brevity of our Lives doth exhort unto 1 Cor. 7.29 30 31. 〈◊〉 all must be left when Death comes both in respect of Use and Enjoyment undoubtedly setting Death in good earnest before us will be a means to Crucifie us unto the World and the World unto us Shall that be lodged in our Hearts that we shall hold but a little while in our Hands and will be wholly out of our Eye Did we really believe that it will not be long that we shall have these things in our Possession we should make the less of them whilst we do possess them 3. Quickning our dull and sleepy Hearts unto greater Diligence in seeking after and endeavouring to secure cur main and principal Interest will a time come and may it be near to us that will put an end unto all Opportunities for our Souls Eternal Welfare O then why are we so sottish as to waste our little time in Vanity or Drudgery of the World when we have so great a Concernment lie upon our Hand And how sad will it be if we miss the Time and lose our Opportunity 4. If it be God that brings to Death then let this Command us into Holy Silence and bring our Hearts into quiet Submission when our chiefest Friends and dearest Relations are taken away this Consideration that God hath done it should quiet our Minds and charm us into the most profound silence as Aaron Levit. 10.2 when by a most dismal stroke from Heaven two of his Sons were cut off together which did testifie God's great Displeasure they being taken away in the Act of sinning yet he held his peace that is he quarrelled not at that Awful Providence but with the greatest Patience did bear up under it So Psal 39.9 I was dumb and opened not my mouth because God did it Thus did Job when all his Children fell together by an unusual and fearful stroke Chap. 1.18 A Minister's 〈◊〉 impatiently lamenting the loss of her late deceased Husband and her Livelihood also by that means taken away an aged gracious Woman discoursing with her that she might compose her disturbed Mind did ask her who did it She answered God had done it Then saith she be still for if he hath done it he hath done thee no wrong 1. It is he that hath an absolute and uncontroulable Right to dispose of us and all our Creature-Comforts at his own Will and Pleasure his Sovereignty therefore should strike us into a Holy Dumbness when under such chastising Providences 2. It is he that is too just to do us any wrong and too good to do us harm and if neither wrong nor harm are done us we have no reason to mourn excessively nor to give way to any Impatience 3. It is he that can make up our Loss be it never so great and if we carry it well and put our Trust in him he will surely and certainly do it who makes all things work together for their good who love him and are the called according to his purpose Rom. 8.28 He can you need not fear supply the absence of your best Relations O but may one say I have parted with a most tender and loving Father True but he was but an Earthly Father and Mortal also If thou gettest an Interest in God he will be an Heavenly and an Immortal Father O saith another I have lost a most Faithful and Constant Friend the best Friend I had in all the World Be it so then make sure of that Friend that will never fail and that will be so for ever There is a Friend that sticks closer than a Brother make him your Friend O saith a third the Lord brought unto Death a most Tender Dutiful and Obedient Child as ever Parent had Well! is there not enough in him that hath taken thy Child from thee to repair that Loss with unspeakable Advantage It may be thou didst lodge thy Child in that Bed of Love which the Lord had taken for himself and therefore to make room for him he hath taken that Child from thee I remember the saying of a good Woman who had only one Son who by a disastrous Providence was brought to Death upon the News of it answered Now I see God will leave me nothing to love but himself And if that Love which was set on thy Child be placed upon God when thy Child is gone it will be manifest that it was his love to thy Soul that thy Child was removed from thee 5. Vse My Text and the Doctrine insisted on brings very good and very bad News Very good unto the Godly but very bad unto the Wicked 1. It is your Mercy that are the called of God and by Grace are brought over to Jesus Christ that God will bring you to Death and ease you thereby of all the Burthens and Grievances that whilst you are in this howling Wilderness you are oppressed with you by Death are delivered from the Body of Death that sometimes you groan under from the Spirit of Bondage Temptations of the Enemy and all Evils both Corporal and Spiritual that whilst here you are annoyed or vexed with 2. By this you will be brought into the Possession of that Inheritance which is incorruptible undefiled and fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1. 3. By this your imperfect Grace and Knowledge will arrive unto that full perfection that your Nature is capable of 4. And hereby you shall attain unto full and entire Satisfaction your Desires being so fully answered that you shall desire no more neither can more be desired But 2dly As this is good the best News unto Saints so it is the worst News that can be to Sinners and the Ungodly that so live and die For 1. They leave all their good things and the things they take most Pleasure and Delight in behind them and must take an everlasting farewel of them 2. Their Evil VVorks will follow them and the Reward of them will be their Portion the VVages thereof is Eternal Death Rom. 6. 3. They will have nothing to yield them the least Relief or Comfort when Misery unconceivable will come upon them not so much as a drop of cold water to cool their flaming Tongue Luke 16.24 which whilst here was set on fire of Hell that Tongue wherewith they blasphemed God by Cursing Damning and Swearing and wherewith they mocked and derided the People of God his VVays and Ordinances 4. VVhen God brings them to Death they are carried by the Devil whom they have served to be Companions with him in that unquenchable Fire that is prepared for them 5. And that which aggravates all their Misery that they shall be endless and despair of ever having any ease or end of them FINIS Books Sold by Mark Conyers in Newport-Pagnel where you may be furnished with all sorts of Books and Stationary Ware and where you may have Money for Old Books or Studies of Books Art's Master-Piece Notable Things True Art of Angling Experienced Fowler The Cook 's New-Years-Gift Delight and Pastime Pious Man's Directions A Spark from the Altar
that the Beggar died So did the Rich Man and in one thing the Rich Man had the Advantage of Lazarus for he it is said was buried possibly had a costly Coffin and had great Splendor at his Funeral and the Poor Man hurled obscurely into some Hole for though it is said he died it doth not say he was buried well yet the Poor Man had a far greater Advantage at his Death for when the Devils dragged the Rich Man to Hell a Guard of Angels was sent to convey the departing Soul of the Poor Man into Heaven The strong Man is brought to Death as well as the weak and feeble Job 21.23 24 25. One dieth in his full or in the very perfection of his strength whose breasts were full of Milk and his bones moistned with Marrow Another dieth in the bitterness of his soul that did never eat his meat with pleasure these shall lie down alike in the dust By Strength no Man can prevail the mighty Men of Valour were brought to Death those that in Old Times were called Men of Renown The stout-hearted are spoiled they have slept their sleep and the men of might have lost their hands wherewith they have done great Exploits Psal 76.5 The great Conquerors of the World have by Death been conquered and overcome The Doctor and the Apothecary The one that hath prescribed and the other that hath prepared Medicines whereby the Sick have been recovered and Life hath been preserved cannot devise nor provide a Potion that shall keep themselves from Death The Wise and the Fool. Solomon Eccles 2.16 propounds a Question How dies the Wise Man And answers it As the Fool. None by their Politick shifts can evade or shift it off the great Head-pieces that have been in the World have laid down their Heads in the Dust The Useful and the Useless Some Men are Luggage to the Earth who only live to eat and do no good in their Generation whose Souls serve but for Salt to keep them from putrefying and rotting above Ground But there are and have been others that have been a Blessing in their Places doing much good unto those they have conversed with Such a one was Job Chap. 29.12 13 14 15 16 17. And David Acts 13.36 who served his Generation according to the will of God yet for all that he fell asleep Who more serviceable unto God and Man than the Holy Men of Old Prophets and Apostles yet they did not live for ever Zech. 1.5 Yea the Godly and Wicked have been and shall be brought to Death Wickedness shall not deliver him that is given to it Eccles 8.8 Nor shall the Righteousness of the Righteous for one event happens to them both Eccles 9.2 Object But doth not Solomon contradict this Doctrine who tells us That Righteousness delivereth from Death Prov. 10.2 Resp It is certain that Righteousness delivers from Death But not from Natural Death for that is a Debt owing by all and must be paid by all but Righteousness doth deliver from the Sting or Curse of it So that the Righteous may with holy Boldness and Confidence Challenge Death to shew his Sting 1 Cor. 15.55 And also from Eternal Death which is called the second Death or a Death after Death Rev. 2.11 Chap. 20.6 Will God bring to Death That is to Natural Death which is the dissolving of the Union or loosing or breaking the Knot that did tye Body and Soul together 2 Cor. 5.1 The word dissolved is taken from the overthrowing or demolishing of Buildings whereby the House that was compact and in the several parts joyned together being demolished it is parted asunder These two intimates Body and Soul by Death are separated one from another Third Question How did Job come to this Knowledge Why in the same way as others do or may attain it 1. By the Letter of the Scripture This doth sufficiently bear Witness to this Truth Gen. 3.19 the Lord tells Adam That he is Dust and unto Dust he shall return Job speaks the same Chap. 14.1 Besides the manifold Instances of Persons that died recorded in the Scripture do plainly and convincingly demonstrate it 2. Reason or the Light of Nature will tell us that a House of Clay that is founded on a heap of Dust such as our Bodies are Job 4.19 how strong or beautiful soever it be will fall down The Apostle calls it an Earthly House 2 Cor. 5.1 If it was built of Stones and the Foundation was a Rock or Marble yet by one means or other it will decay and may be overthrown And if this be all the Knowledge Men have it will not much affect the Heart nor produce such Effects as the Matter doth require Men may and many do know both these ways that they must die and yet the Lord may take up the Complaint against them as he did against Israel of Old for not wisely considering their latter End Deut. 32.29 Not duly expecting or preparing for it not taking care to order their Conversations as dying Creatures ought to do but do still carelesly neglect the Concerns of their Precious and Immortal Souls But 3. There is a Spiritual Knowledge of it though the Object be Natural which proceedeth from the Teachings of God which Holy David prayed for Psal 39.4 who had the means both of Scripture and Reason to inform him as other Men have yet this did not satisfie him and therefore applies himself to the Throne of Grace that the Lord would teach him to know his End and the measure of his Days that he might thereby be made to know how frail he was For this also did Moses pray Psal 90.12 that he might be taught so to number his days that this Effect might be wrought to apply his Heart to Wisdom In the foregoing Verse he had cast up the Account of the Years of Man's Life but he looked after and did beg for another kind of Knowledge than what his Reason could Instruct him in You therefore that have only that knowledge of your Mortality that Reason and the Letter of the Scripture teacheth be exhorted to imitate these Holy Men that you may attain that knowledge of it as may encline your Hearts to seek after the things that belong unto your Eternal Welfare Having run through the words by way of Explication I shall lay before you two Observations that arise from them 1. That God will bring us to Death 2. That it is a piece of the greatest Wisdom rightly and Spiritually to know this I shall only handle the first of these How long soever and what Lives soever we live yet we must die Reasons of the Doctrine 1. God will bring us to Death because we bring Sin into the World which opens a Passage for Death Rom. 5.12 As by one Man Sin entred into the World so Death by Sin and Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned Here we see at what Door Death enters though Man was made of weak and