Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	age_n	die_v	year_n	6,258	5	4.9578	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62597	A sermon preached at the funeral of the Reverend Mr Thomas Gouge, the 4th of Novemb. 1681 at S. Anne's Blackfriars with a brief account of his life / by John Tillotson ...	Tillotson, John, 1630-1694.	1682 (1682)	Wing T1234; ESTC R17437	26,169	94

encourag'd by the most bountifull example of the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and the Court of Aldermen to all which he constantly added two Thirds of his own estate which as I have been credibly inform'd was two hundred pounds a year I say by all these together there were every year eight hundred sometimes a thousand poor children educated as I said before and by this example several of the most considerable Towns of Wales were excited to bring up at their own charge the like number of poor children in the like manner and under his inspection and care He likewise gave very great numbers of the Books above mention'd both in the Welch and English Tongues to the poorer sort so many as were unable to buy them and willing to reade them But which was the greatest work of all and amounted indeed to a mighty charge he procured a new and very fair Impression of the Bible and Liturgy of the Church of England in the Welch Tongue the former Impression being spent and hardly twenty of them to be had in all London to the number of eight thousand one thousand whereof were freely given to the poor and the rest sent to the principal Cities and Towns in Wales to be sold to the rich at very reasonable and low rates viz. at four shillings a piece well bound and clasped which was much cheaper than any English Bible was ever sold that was of so fair a print and paper A work of that charge that it was not likely to have been done any other way and for which this Age and perhaps the next will have great cause to thank God on his behalf In these good works he employed all his time and care and pains and his whole heart was in them so that he was very little affected with any thing else and seldom either minded or knew any thing of the strange occurrences of this troublesome and busie Age such as I think are hardly to be parallel'd in any other Or if he did mind them he scarce ever spoke any thing about them For this was the business he laid to heart and knowing it to be so much and so certainly the Will of his heavenly Father it was his meat and drink to be doing of it And the good success he had in it was a continual feast to him and gave him a perpetual serenity both of mind and countenance His great love and zeal for this work made all the pains and difficulties of it seem nothing to him He would rise early and sit up late and continued the same diligence and industry to the last though he was in the threescore and seventeenth year of his age And that he might manage the distribution of this great charity with his own hands and see the good effect of it with his own eyes he always once but usually twice a year at his own charge travelled over a great part of Wales none of the best Countries to travel in But for the love of God and men he endured all that together with the extremity of heat and cold which in their several seasons are both very great there not onely with patience but with pleasure So that all things considered there have not since the primitive times of Christianity been many among the sons of men to whom that glorious character of the Son of God might be better applied that he went about doing good And Wales may as worthily boast of this truly Apostolical man as of their famous S. David who was also very probably a good man as those times of ignorance and superstition went But his goodness is so disguised by their fabulous Legends and stories which give us the account of him that it is not easie to discover it Indeed ridiculous miracles in abundance are reported of him as that upon occasion of a great number of people resorting from all parts to hear him preach for the greater advantage of his being heard a mountain all on a sudden rose up miraculously under his feet and his voice was extended to that degree that he might be distinctly heard for two or three miles round about Such phantastical miracles as these make up a great part of his History And admitting all these to be true which a wise man would be loth to do our departed Friend had that which is much greater and more excellent than all these a fervent charity to God and men which is more than to speak as they would make us believe S David did with the tongue of men and Angels more than to raise or remove mountains And now methinks it is pity so good a design so happily prosecuted should fall and die with this good man And it is now under deliberation if possible still to continue and carry it on and a very worthy and charitable person pitched upon for that purpose who is willing to undertake that part which he that is gone performed so well But this will depend upon the continuance of the former Charities and the concurrence of those worthy and well disposed persons in Wales to contribute their part as formerly which I perswade my self they will cheerfully doe I will add but one thing more concerning our deceased Brother that though he meddled not at all in our present heats and differences as a Party having much better things to mind yet as a looker on he did very sadly lament them and for several of the last years of his life he continued in the Communion of our Church and as he himself told me thought himself obliged in conscience so to do He died in the 77th year of his age Octob. 29th 1681. It so pleased God that his death was very sudden and so sudden that in all probability he himself hardly perceived it when it happened for he died in his sleep and as it is said of David after he had served his generation according to the will of God he fell asleep I confess that a sudden death is generally undesirable and therefore with reason we pray against it because so very few are sufficiently prepared for it But to him the constant employment of whose life was the best preparation for death that was possible no death could be sudden nay it was rather a favour and blessing to him because by how much the more sudden so much the more easie As if God had designed to begin the reward of the great pains of his life in an easie death And indeed it was rather a translation than a death and saving that his body was left behind what was said of Enoch may not unfitly be applied to this pious and good man with respect to the suddenness of his change he walked with God and was not for God took him And God grant that we who survive may all of us sincerely endeavour to tread in the steps of his exemplary piety and charity of his labour of love his unwearied diligence and patient continuance in doing good that we