Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	adam_n	apostle_n	sin_n	6,867	5	5.5918	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51278	A sermon preach'd at the Hague, at the funeral of the late Prince of Orange (father to his present Majesty King William III.) who died in the year 1650. wherein the life and actions of his present Majesty are prophetically foretold. By the learned Mr. Morus. Translated out of French by Daniel la Fite, M.A. rector of Woolavington in Sussex.	More, Alexander, 1616-1670.; Lafite, Daniel.	1694 (1694)	Wing M2627; ESTC R216378	16,178	31

A SERMON Preach'd at the HAGVE At the FUNERAL of the Late Prince of Orange Father to his present MAJESTY King WILLIAM III. Who died in the Year 1650. Wherein the Life and Actions of his present Majesty are Prophetically foretold By the Learned Mr. MORUS Translated out of French by Daniel la Fite M. A. Rector of Woolavington in Sussex LONDON Printed by J. D. for Roger Clavel at the Peacock in Fleetstreet MDCXCIV Imprimatur Junii 28. 1694. RA. BARKER ISAIAH XL. 6 7 8. The Voice said Cry And he said What shall I cry All Flesh is Grass and all the Glory thereof is as the Flower of the Field The Grass withereth the Flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it Surely the People is Grass The Grass withereth the Flower fadeth but the Word of our God shall stand for ever THE Heavens declare the Glory of God saith the Prophet and though they have neither Speech nor Language yet for all that is their Voice heard They speak not to him that listens but to him that views them and entertain him much to this purpose Consider well our Beauty and Lustre the Vastness of our Bodies the unerring Stedfastness of our Motions and the Universality of our Influences We have not fram'd our selves we are the Effects of the First Cause the Productions of a Wise and Omnipotent God What the Prophet asserts of the Heavens the same we may say of the Dead and that in a more emphatical and significant manner They declare the Glory of God and the Emptiness and Vanity of Man there is no Speech nor Language with them no nor Motion neither as there is in the Heavenly Bodies yet is their Speech heard and if we hear them not 't is not because they don't speak but because we do not hearken They speak they preach they cry with a Voice intelligible enough even with the dumb Language of their loud and instructive Silence Behold and see to what we are come and whither you are going God who by his Almighty Word spoke us out of the Dust by withdrawing his Breath hath return'd us thither again But above all the Great Dead speak loudest and with a most distinguishing Tone with a Voice like to that of many Waters with a Voice that breaks the Cedars of Lebanon Solomon in his Life-time was both a King and a Preacher he made a Pulpit of his Throne and gave himself the Name of Ecclesiastes that is to say a Preacher But if Solomon was a Preacher when alive all Kings and Princes become such when they die they preach to all the World and the very same thing that he the wisest of Men and happiest of Kings had preached before them Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity which is no other than what is here proclaimed by the Prophet Isaiah I might as well have said Prince Isaiah for he was indeed a Prince of the Blood Royal and yet died as well as the Prophet Amos who as St. Jerome observes was a Cow-herd so that dying as well as living he cried All Flesh is Grass and all the Glory thereof is as the Flower of the Field But alas why is this Text so plain why so convincingly evident and so easy to be understood O that it were a Riddle yet and hard to be apprehended but we have all of us too sensible a Demonstration of this Truth and we can say nothing for the clearing of it which is not much inferiour to the Evidence which our common Disaster gives us thereof Had I a golden Tongue as that famous Bishop of old or were I inspired with the Eloquence of Angels yet should not I be able to say any thing that would come near to the Clearness and Force of the sad Commentary which the Breath of our Nostrils He of whom we said Many Nations shall rest under his Shadow hath given us upon it I shall not need therefore to take so much care to explain the Words as otherwise I should be obliged to do The thing it self speaks his Highness though dead speaks yea cries All Flesh is Grass All Flesh that is without any Exception Men have many Advantages and more especially these two Reason and Speech which distinguish them from all other living Creatures but as for the Flesh there is nothing very extraordinary in it one of the most obscene and impure Beasts the Swine is very like Man as to his inward Parts and as to the outward the most ill-favour'd and ridiculous of all Creatures expresseth him best Our Flesh is of the same Substance and Form with the Creatures we feed upon Wherefore what is Man but as an ancient Philisopher said a little Flegm and Gall put together that is to say a Mixture of Water and Fire or if you will of Flesh and Blood Indeed Man as to his Body is nothing else but mere Flesh and Blood altogether inclin'd to Corruption and nothing but Frailty according to the Hebrew Phrase for when the Jews would speak with Contempt of a thing that is of no Constancy or Solidity they call it Basharvedam Flesh and Blood You must not imagine that our Prophet speaking here of Flesh intends thereby Sin only or the corrupt Nature of Man as our Saviour does when he saith That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh for had this been his meaning he would not have said All Flesh but restrained his Expression to the Flesh of Sinners Therefore when he says All Flesh his meaning is that all Men the most godly and righteous not excepted are subject to Death All the Children of Adam inasmuch as they are made up of Flesh and Blood must return to their Original Dust as well as he But perhaps you will say Of what avail is it then to us that we are the Children of God if we must inevitably submit to Death as well as other Men I answer the New Birth was not design'd to preserve us in the State wherein Adam was created nor to restore us to it because that was but a carnal and perishable Estate but to exalt us to the glorious Condition of the Second Adam who is the Man from Heaven altogether spiritual and immortal Indeed Adam in his State of Innocence was but Flesh and Blood for though he knew no Sin yet was he liable to Sin and consequently to Death which is the Wages of it Flesh and Blood says St. Paul cannot inherit the Kingdom of God What think you doth the Apostle mean here by Flesh and Blood He doth not mean Sin though what he saith be true of Sin too but in this place as appears from the Context is understood Humane Nature consider'd in its Infirmities though otherwise innocent and just as subject to a continual Changeableness to a troublesome Vicissitude of Eating and Drinking of Labour and Rest and to many other Drudgeries and Necessities of Life because in this State it cannot subsist before God no more than Wax before the burning Sun

Furthermore if you ask me Why it is that all Flesh is Grass subject to Fading and Death I answer because without Death we cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven It was impossible even for Adam all innocent and all just as he was to be transported to Heaven without leaving his Flesh behind him or without undergoing some Change which might devest him of his natural Infirmities and endow him with Divine and Spiritual Qualities And would you aspire to the Glory of this Kingdom without putting off the old Rags of your corruptible Nature Nothing that is defiled or impure shall ever enter into it nor any thing that is of an earthy and corruptible Nature Don't therefore ask me any more why the Flesh even of the Children of God is as Grass or why they must unavoidably die There are two obvious Reasons for it and such as you cannot be ignorant of The first is because of their Sin the second because of their Infirmity and Corruptibility The Angels were Sinners but had no Flesh and consequently were not subject to Mortality Adam was mortal as being made up of Flesh and Blood but was no Sinner nevertheless neither the Angels after they had sinn'd nor Adam who had never sinn'd could ever bear the Presence of God The Sinfulness of the Fallen Angels could not bear his Justice and the infirm and corruptible Nature of Man could not bear the Glory of his Divine Majesty and we who are both infirm Mortals and Sinners how could we appear before his Supreme Justice or endure his transcendent Glory without being struck down to the Ground without being overset and swallowed up by them Our Bodies therefore must by Death be cast into the Grave as into a Melting-pot to be melted down and to be cast a-new Death is the true Purgatory here the Saints are refined here they put off all the Remains of Corruption by quitting the cast Skin of the Old Man and all the Infirmities of their Flesh But the Prophet here cries out All Flesh without confining himself either to the Flesh of Sin or to the Flesh of Weakness and Corruptibility All Flesh all that we see all that charms and flatters our Senses all those painted Delusions all those gay Colours and pleasant Pictures yea the whole World with all that is in it is all but Flesh and all Flesh is as Grass Men being sensible that their Flesh must return to the Earth whence it was taken endeavour at least to preserve the Memory of it by dead but durable Representations such as Pictures Statues Triumphal Arches c. But there is no Matter no Industry that is of Proof against the devouring Teeth of Time the secret Force of that powerful Corrosive wastes by degrees and defaces sooner or later Colossus's Pyramides and Mausoleums Marble and Brass indeed last longer than our Bodies yet in process of Time they crumble away and thereby demonstrate they were but Flesh and Corruption Dust and Ashes All the tempting Objects you gaze and dote upon with so much Wonder and Love are but Apples of Sodom fair and tempting to the Eye but worm-eaten and rotten within The Colour that shines outwardly is gay and ravishing but all this Paint covers nothing but Dust and Ashes and still at the bottom all is but Grass which is green and flourishing for a while but soon after turns to Hay dry'd faded and dead without any Colour Strength or Virtue O Earth Earth Earth hear the World of the Lord Jer. 22.29 cries the Prophet Jeremy In which Exclamation he intends Man who is thrice Earth because he was made of Earth because he feeds on Earth and because having lingred and crept for a time upon it at last returns into the Belly of the Earth our common Mother The Condition of Man is much the same with those Plants shall I call them or living Creatures call'd Plantanimals which being fastned by the Belly to the Earth brouze and eat up all the Grass they find within their reach and then die for lack of Nourishment But it may be some will say that this may pass for Truth in reference to the common sort of People and the Scum of Men but that the Heroes the Monarchs the Conquerors of Nations the Thunder-bolts of War have something that raises them above those vulgar and creeping Souls Our Prophet in some respect seems to agree to this for he puts some Difference between a poor and a rich Man between a Subject and a Prince But alas what Difference is it Why such as there is between green Grass and a fine Flower which by its lively and lustrous Colour shines like a Star in a Medow for so the ancient Poets by a witty Metaphor called Flowers the Stars of the Earth The Societies of Men are not without their Stars but these Stars fall and become extinguish'd nor without their Lillies and Roses but these Roses have their Prickles and these Lillies are as short-liv'd as they are sweet and pleasant The Lillies of the Field outvie Solomon in all his Glory but for all this are still but poor fading Flowers more gay and beautiful indeed but not less perishing than others The tall Cedar as well as the Hysop that grows on the Wall the Flowers as well as the Grass of the Field all fade and all perish And this is the Reason why our Prophet after that he had said All Flesh is Grass adds And all the Glory thereof is as the Flower of the Field He understands by the Glory thereof its Lustre and Beauty its Grace and Splendor its Strength and Vigour its Gayety and Pomp whatsoever in it is most sweet pleasing and ravishing In a word all that dazling Pomp and Show which the Prince of Darkness display'd before the Eyes of the Prince of Life all the Kingdoms of the Earth with all their Glory The word Glory according to the Stile of the Jews comprehends the three capital good things wherein Men generally place their Bliss and Happiness to wit Profit Honour and Pleasure for these are the three Demons that possess all Men Covetousness Ambition and Voluptuousness divide all Mankind and are the Trinity the World so much adores The word Glory takes in all these three it signifies Riches in that Expression of Laban's Children concerning Jacob Gen. 31.1 Of that which was our Fathers hath he gotten all his Glory It is taken for Honours as when St. Jude calls Princes and Magistrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jude v. 8. Glories which we translate Dignities And for Pleasures where mention is made of the Glory of Solomon 's Court that is its Bravery Pleasures and Delights Whence it is that we read in the New Testament of Riches of Glory of a Crown of Glory and of a Joy unalterable and full of Glory And therefore this Word has been singled out to express the full Enjoyment of all good things in the Life to come because there we shall have wherewith to give plenary