Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	apostle_n	die_v	life_n	4,071	5	4.5667	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A92849	Christos kai kerdos. = Christ the life, and death the gain, of every true beleever: or, The life of a saint resolved into Christ, and His death into gain. Held forth clearly in a sermon preached at the late sad and solemn funeral of the right worshipful Rowland Wilson, Esq; a Member of the Parliament of England, and of the honorable Councel of State; and one of the aldermen and sheriffs of the city of London. By Obadiah Sedgvvick, B.D. and minister of the Gospel at Covent-Garden. Together with an epistle dedicatory: wherein is an exact account given upon some years more then ordinary experience of the superlative worth of this eminent servant of Christ, and of the Common-wealth. By George Cokayn, an unworthy teacher of the Gospel at Pancras Soper lane, London.	Sedgwick, Obadiah, 1600?-1658.; Cokayn, George, 1619-1691.	1650 (1650)	Wing S2368; Thomason E599_6; ESTC R206326	26,159	45

dispensation take occasion to lead you forth into further experiences of himself that you might while you drink down this bitter cup taste also and see that the Lord is gracious This I know will be your only relief and that which in ●●●e will certainly scatter that cloud of sadness which indeed at present rests with too great darkness upon your Spirit which the Lord by the manifestation of himself will in his time totally dispel In the mean while let that sweet Scripture as a companion rest with you Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness he is gracious and Psa 112. 4. full of compassion and righteous That the Marrow and Spirit of this Text may be your Portion is the uncessan● Prayer of LADY Your poor Orator at the Throne of Grace and unworthy Servant in the Work of the Gospel GEORGE COKAY Apr. 18. 1650. PHILIPPIANS 1. 21. To Me to Live is Christ and to Dye is Gain I Shall not trouble you with the Coherence nor with the various Readings of these words which do consist of Two parts 1. The Scope or End of a Christians Life To me to live is Christ. 2. The Hope and Fruit of a Christians Death And to dye is Gain A Real Christian is of all men in the Best Condition For if he lives he Gets and if he dyes he Gains None Improve Life well and None Inrich themselves by Death but Beleeving Christians From these Two parts there are two Propositions unto which I intend to speak at this time 1. The First is That the Life of a Real Christian is Resolved into Christ 2. The Second is That the Death of a Real Christian is Resolved into Gain I begin with the First of these That the Life of a Real Christian is Resolved into 1 Propo●●● Christ To me to live is Christ The Life of a Chistian hath a Four-fold reference unto Christ Christ is 1. Principium The Principle or Fountain of His Life All Spiritual Life is First in Christ and Next in us As the life of the Branches is First in the Root and from thence Imparted to the Branches I Am the Vine Ye Are the Branches Joh. 15. 5. 2. Objectum Christ is the Object upon which the Christian lives I live by the Faith of the Son of God Gal. 2. 20. As the Ordinary Man lives upon his Food so the Spiritual Man lives upon his Christ Whatsoever makes for Life For that doth the Beleever live on Christ who indeed is the onely All of Life and for Life unto his Soul 3. Regula Christ is the Rule and Square of a Christians Life He that Abideth in him Ought himself also to walk As he walked 1 Joh. 2. 6. Hence those expressions My ways which be In Christ 1 Cor. 4. 17. Your Good Conversation In Christ 1 Pet. 3. 16. Be Followers of me As I am of Christ 1 Cor. 11. 1. Walk in love As Christ also hath loved us Eph. 5. 2. The Life of Christ is the Copy and the Life of a Christian is a Line written after that Copy The Life of Christ is the Seal and the Life of a Christian is the Character or Expression of that Seal His Life is in this sence also The Manifestation of the life of Christ 2 Cor. 4. 10. 4. Finis or Scopus Christ is the End unto which and for which a Christian doth live The Life of a Christian that is the Course of a Christian the Course of his Thoughts and Designs the Course of his Desires and Affections the Course of his Endevors and Labors All the Course of his Life is directed unto Christ it is subordinate and serviceable to the Glorifying of Christ None of us saith the Apostle in Rom. 14. 7 8. liveth to Himself and No man dyeth to Himself For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we dye we dye unto the Lord c. A man lives unto himself who sets up Qui se unum respicit himself As the End of his living and onely regards himself You have a suitable expression with this in Psal 49. 18. Whiles he lived he Blessed his own Soul Hetib lenapsiselso i. e. All that he Aimed at was to please and benefit and enrich and increase himself So on the contrary To live unto the Lord to live unto Christ is Not onely to Set up the Will of Christ As the Rule of Life But Also to Set up the Glory and Advantages of Christ As the Superlative Aim or End of Life You have the like passage in 2 Cor. 5. 15. He dyed for All that They which live should not henceforth live unto themselves But unto Him which dyed for them and rose again The Apostle doth here make a Parallel and Reciprocal Intention 'twixt Christ and Christians The Intention of Christ in His Death was Their Good He dyed for them and the Intention of Christ in His Resurrection was Their Good He Rose again for them He was delivered for Our Offences and was Raised again for Our Justification Rom. 4. 25. Christ did not live for Himself but For Us Christ did not dye for Himself but For Us Christ did not Rise for Himself but For Us He intended Our Good in All these And so Reciprocally Christians should in their whole course of life Not intend Themselves but Christ Not live unto themselves but unto Christ Our Good and Salvation was His End and His Honor and Glory should be Our End Now for the further clearing of this Assertion I shall endeavor to demonstrate two Things Namely 1. That Real Christians do propound Jesus Christ As the Scope and End of their Life 2. Why they do so and why they should do so That Real Christians do Propound Jesus Christ 1. As the End of their living will plainly Appear if you do seriously consider That Jesus Christ hath All those peculiar Influences and Operations upon their Hearts which Any Chief End hath upon every man who sets it up As So unto Himself That which is Any Mans Chief End it hath Six Qualities in it 1. It doth Excitare it sets a man to work it Finis movet ad Agendum sets the wheels going it doth awaken and stir every Faculty of the Soul and makes them Active If a Mans Heart be Set on Any part of the World As his Chief End suppose it be Honor with Haman or Pleasure with Belshazzar or Riches with Dives why presently All the Soul is drawn out and works for that worldly End The Minde thinks and plods the Will desires and stirs the Affections long and thirst and the whole in that man acts and labors towards that End In like manner Jesus Christ who is the Great End of a Christians Life hath a very strong and influential virtue upon the Heart of a Christian The Glory of Christ quickens stirs draws out his Soul The love of Christ constrains us said Paul in 2 Cor. 5. 14. It doth urge us puts

thy Blood and hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests And therefore worthy is the Lamb to Receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honor and Glory and Blessing Rev. 5. 9 10 12. Nay let me add one Obligation more which lies upon you and that is this You are the onely People in the world whom Jesus Christ doth intrust with his Glorious Interests He forms you for his Praise he trusts you with All his Honor here below amongst the sons of men And truly as it is your Great Honor to be trusted with the Honor of Christ So are you thereby the more obliged to live and act for his Honor and Glory 5. To direct and act the whole Course of Life for Christ This is the Highest and Noblest Improvement of Life Beloved Our Actions have their denominations partly from their Formal and intrinsecal cause and partly from their Final and extrinsecal cause The Actions of Man are more Noble then those of Irrational Creatures because They do flow from a Cause from a Soul which is more Noble And the Actions of a Christian are more Noble then those of a Man because they do spring from Principles which are divine And as Actions are thus dignified by their Formal Causes so likewise are They by their Final and Extrinsecal Causes The more low and sordid the Ends are the more base are the Actions of Life As when they are unworthy of such a state and condition If a Man should form his course of Life onely for such ends which do bound the Appetites of Brute Beasts in satisfying of himself with Sensual Objects this sordid End makes his Life a most sordid Life And so on the contrary the more excellent the Ends are for which our Lives are improved the more are our Lives raised in the degrees of Beauty and Perfection The more perfect Ends do always grace our Actions with the more perfect Glory The Actions of God himself are therefore the most glorious because they are Levelled at and come up most perfectly to His own Glory which is the chief End of Himself And so it is with the Actions of our Lives when they Rise to Christ and are Terminated in him This is their Dignity and Glory they cannot be Raised unto a more choyce Nature or degree of employment They are Now carried on and lifted up to the highest End As far as Christ and His Glory are above Sinful Lusts and Worldly Lusts above Earthly Pleasures and Earthly Profits and Earthly Honors and above our Selves So Far is a Living unto Christ above and beyond a Living unto Any or All of these And thus have you heard the First Proposition in some measure cleared unto you Namely That the Life of a Christian is Resolved into Christ I Now come to speak of the second Proposition which is this That the Death of a Christian is Resolved into 2 Propo●it Gain To me to live is Christ And to dye is Gain I shall not trouble you with the several considerations of Gain which yet might be aptly applied to the present Subject As Lucrum ex Benevolentia ex Pacto ex Societate ex Re Accepta Gain by Favor by Compact by Society by Matter falling into hand in respect of all which the Christian is a Gainer by Death But I shall briefly clear the Assertion 1. By Scriptures 2. By Arguments 1. By Scriptures Ecclesiastes 7. 1. The day of Death is better then the day of ones Birth If it be Better then it is Gain If you get more by Death then you do by Life surely then Death is a Gain Phil. 1. 23. I have a desire to depart i. e. to dye Death to a Godly man is but a departure from one condition to another and from one place to another and to be with Christ which is far Better To be In E●e Christum cum Paulo magna securitas Esse Paulum cum Christo summa Felicitas Bernard Christ is very Good thus we are whiles we live But to be With Christ this is Best of All and thus we are when we dye For Christ to be with Paul this was a Great Blessing But for Paul to be with Christ this was chiefest Blessedness said Bernard Take one place more Revel 14. 13. Blessed Are the Dead which dye in the Lord they rest from their labors and their works Follow them There is a Proportion of Blessedness which Christians have in this Life But the Full Portion of it is at Death therefore Death is Gain In this Life we are laboring for Blessedness but at Death you shall be Fully possessed of Blessedness Possession is better then Expectation and Blessedness in Hand is better then Blessedness in Hope therefore Death is Gain to Christians 2. By Arguments It cannot be but that Christians must Needs Gain by Death Because thereupon they pass into such an Estate where they do receive a Full Reward and where All the Promises of God are perfectly made Good unto them and where All the Gracious and Eternal Intentions of Love and Happiness towards them are as in their last End Fulfilled and Accomplished And beyond which Estate there is Not in them No Not a possible capacity for the Fruition of a Greater Perfection and Glory But more particularly If the Estate into which the Christian is Translated by Death doth more then Recompence All his Losses by Death and doth transcendently exceed All the Benefits which he hath in Life then Death is Gain or Advantage unto him For herein doth All Gain consist It is a Fuller Recompence or a Larger Addition If you lose a little and for that Receive more this is Gain If you lay out a little and for this Take in much this also is Gain Now consider 1. The Christians Compensations by Death are far greater then any of his Losses by Death You read of the Phoenix that her old Age falling into the Flames of death procures unto her a second Edition or Birth of a New and Fresh Life And hereby Death is an Advantage unto that Creature Much more is it to the Christian concerning whom the Apostle saith in 2 Cor. 5. 4. That Mortality is swallowed up of Life and that Death is but the dissolving of his Earthly house so that he might enjoy An house Not made with Hand Eternal in the Heavens Vers 1. There is Nothing which you can lose by Death but what must be lost and what for the most part may be lost in Life And whatsoever that is which you so lose by Death it is superabundantly made up unto you again You lose a Mortal Life but then you Finde an Immortal Life You lose the Society of Men but then you Finde the Society of Angels You lose the Sight of Friends but then you Finde the Sight of God You lose the Possession of the World but then you Finde the Possession of the Kingdom of Heaven Are Not these Compensations more then Equivalent to your Losses

All the Interests of Christ O that you who are the Embassadors of Christ would live more to Christ Do you desire to Know Nothing but Jesus Christ and Him Crucified Reveal the Glorious Excellencies of Christ make Know the unspeakable Love of Christ direct men strive with men perswade men to Know Christ to come into Christ to serve Christ What have you more to do then to be doing for Christ O that All of us would live more to Christ That All our Oyl might be emptied into the Golden Candlestick That Parents and Children Masters and Servants All might be doing more for Christ Every Morning let us consider What may I do this day for Christ Every Evening let us Review What have I done this day for Christ And as he thought that day lost wherein he had done No Good thing So let us repute that part of Life as dead and lost wherein we have done Nothing to the Honor and Advantage of Christ O Christian Thou livest not until thou livest to Christ O Christian Thou canst not dye but thou must dye for ever if thou hast not lived unto Christ It was a Good Speech of one Vis in pace mori sis Servus Dei Wouldst thou dye in Peace then be the Servant of God So say I Wouldst thou dye and Go to Christ then live so as to be a Servant of Christ Every Man when he dyes Goes unto his Master whom he hath served and to whom he hath lived A Wi●ked Man when he dyes he goes to his Master whom he hath served He goes to the Devil and to the Place of Torment A Godly Man when he dyes he goes to His Master He goes to His Christ and enters into the Joy of his Master If you would dye with Pauls Confidence you must first live with Pauls Conscience I have fought A Good Fight I have finished my Course I have Kept the Faith Here is Pauls Conscience Henceforth there is layd up for me A Crown of Righteousness c. Here is Pauls Confidence 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. O Blessed Christ Be Thou my Master make me thy Servant Let me grieve that I have done so little for thee let me pray that I may do more for thee When Death comes my work is at an end I can then Never Speak more Nor do more for Thee who hast done so much for me O that I could live many days in one day and many lives in one life The time is short the Reward is infinite let my remaining life be No longer mine but thine At least let this be found in me That I would serve none but thy Self and that though others may exceed me in Acting for thy Glory yet None may exceed me in Sincerity of Endevor to be Altogether Thine And thus have I said Something of the Best Life and of the Best Death To live is Christ To dye is Gain I will borrow a little more of your Patience to Speak a few words to the Present Occasion concerning our Brother departed who whiles he lived could say To me to live is Christ and being Now dead hath found the other truth of the Text To me to dye is Gain His manner of Life from his youth most or many of you here present do Know And therefore I shall say the less of him of whom you Knew so well and so much There were three things three choyce Jewels which were very Remarkable in him besides All the rest The First was Humility the Beauty of Graces The Second was Integrity the Soul of Graces The Third was Faith the Crown of Graces 1. He was an Humble Christian under All those Eminent Places of Service unto which He was called For one who lived so short a space of Time He lived not above Thirty Six years in all He was Advanced to as many and as the Times Now are to as Great Places of Employment as Any of His Rank I think in the Land To be a Parliament-man To be of the Councel of State To be a Justice in the Country To be an Alderman and Sheriff of This Great City c. Under All which weight of Advancements He deported himself with a discreet and lowly spirit Not lifted up Not at all losing himself Nor Altered by Any of these Alterations These things were under Him Not above Him and truly he looked on them as Burthens and Cares and Greater Duties Not as Dignities and Poor Glories It is Not an easie matter to bear a low condition with a contented minde No● yet an High condition with a lowly Heart It shews a strength of Grace to be Patient in Troubles and to be Humble in Dignities 2. He was a Sincere Christian Active and Sincere His Integrity was Answerable unto his Humility In all His Places wasting his Life for the Publique Good Doing much Good but Scraping up Nothing to his Private Good The Publique did not serve Him but He did serve the Publique He was the Servant Not the Executor of the Land He might truly say as once Samuel did Behold here I am witness Against me Whose Ox have I Taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received Any Bribe to blinde mine eyes therewith 1 Sam. 12. 3. 3. He was a Beleeving Christian prizing and exalting Christ Above All and Rejoycing in Christ as in His onely Best of All Nay often exposing his very life Jeoparding it in th●●igh places of the Field Not counting it too dear for Christ and His Cause But as one spake well Seldom is Excellency in Any Kinde long-liv'd When we see Men Abundantly layd out for Christ and Acting for Him It is an Ordinary Symptome That they have Not much time left to do for Christ When a Person is High in Grace He is Nigh to Glory the Nearer the Center the Swifter Motion And thus it befel him His days were Fulfilled even in the midst of his days Weakness and Sickness suddenly seize on him and at length translate him to be with His Christ which is best of All. And all these Death-summons and Death-strokes he did Bear with that Heavenly Patience and sweet composedness of Spirit that as the Jews ●eign of Moses's Soul That it was Suck'd out of his mouth with Kisses So His Soul did Kindly take leave of His Body that without a Metaphor or Hyperbole His Death was but a Sleep and Rest And Here by the way suffer me as a Friend to speak for him who cannot Now speak for himself In Taking off that Falshood Bold and Notorious Falshood Raised on him by That Generation of Lyars even whiles he was yet living and able to confute it himself As Luther did the lying Scandals of the Papists concerning his strange hideous Death and Burial Some had Raised on him at the beginning of his weakness That he was Fallen mad and they Assign the Particular Occasion of it Then both which Nothing could be more Falsly said The very Truth is That he was of a composed Minde to the very last Gasp and so composedly Himself that within a Few hours before his Death he perfected his own Will with his own Hand But This is an old malicious Trick of the Devil to oppose Good Men living and to reproach Good Men dying and dead Jesus Christ could Not Escape it in his Life Nor yet when layd in his Grave No more could the Apostles of Christ Nor the Primitive Christians Nor those Eminent Servants of Christ against Popery Hus Wicliff Luther Calvin Oecolampadius Beza Junius c. Nor yet many Glorious Instruments in our own days The Servant is Not Above his Master If Christ himself were Accounted Mad it must Not seem harsh Nor strange that Any of his Servants be Reputed so And besides this it is also a Comfort to Good Men when None speak evil of them but evil men Nor can these speak evil of them without a lye as Jerom hath it And truly it is a Sure Sign that there is something of Great Worth in that Man whose Name wicked men do strive so much to asperse and wound The Dogs bark most when the Traveller Gallops But let these poor spirited men have leave to please themselves who have no other weapon but a lye and a Reproach left to Revenge themselves This is the Truth Our departed Brother lived in Faith and dyed in Peace If in Any thing he might truly be said Not to be Himself it was onely in this That He was Not his Own but Christs And so I have done with him and with you save that I have a Word to them who stood in Near Relation unto him I confess your loss is Great but let this comfort you that so His Gain is also exceeding Great You have more cause to Rejoyce that you had such a Husband and such a Son then you have to Grieve that God hath Taken him from you He is but Gone before you must shortly Follow In the mean time make up All your Comforts in God Though these Outward Comforts dye yet the God of All Comforts lives for ever The Sun still shines though the Glass-windows be broken And let us All here at this time Go away the Better We must Every one ere long dye and come to Judgment and Give an Account of our Life Live so that you may live for ever and dye so that you may dye but once You Are Servants and I trust Christs Servants Be doing the Work of Christ and be Faithful in That Work of Christ Blessed is that Servant whom His Master when He cometh shall Finde So Doing and So Liveing FINIS

Do they Not Infinitely exceed them The people of Israel quit Egypt the House of Bondage and possess Canaan the Land of Promise Would you call this a Loss which exceeds All that was enjoyed in Egypt O Christian The least Good in Heaven if there be Any thing there which can be called The l●ast Good Far surmounts All the Good from which Death can part you here on Earth The Candle is out I But Now thou Hast the Sun I leave my Earthly Father I but I Now Go to my Heavenly Father I part with my Husband O but I Go to my Christ The Streams are cut off O but Now I am at the Fountain I shall Never meet with Creature-comforts more O but I shall Now enjoy Him who makes All Comforts and who is All Comforts God My God Christ My Christ for ever 2. The Christians Estate Receives a larger Addition by Death and therefore for him to dye is Gain There are three things added unto your Estate by Death which you longed to have but Never might Nor could enjoy in this Life 1. An Absolute Remedy 2. A Perfect Fruition 3. An Invariable Eternity First The Christian hath this Gain by Death That it proves an Absolute Remedy Death doth that for Him in One Moment which All the Ordinances of Christ could Never do which All the Graces of the Spirit could Never do which All the Joys of the Holy Ghost could Never do It doth instantly cure his Soul and Body It doth perfectly cure them and deliver them From All the Afflictions of Life from All the Troubles of Life from All Infirmities and Diseases in the Body from All Sinful Corruptions in the Soul from All the Temptations and Assaults of Satan All these are at their end when Life is at an end And truly to lose All these and All these for ever is deservedly to be Reckoned amongst Our Gains and Advantages I have Read of Alexander the Great that he did once ask a Philosopher How long a Man should de●ire to live who answered Until he thinks it better to dye then to live Is it Not Better to dye and to be rid of All Sin to dye and be rid of All Temptations to dye and be rid of All Miseries then to live and carry about us a Body of Sin which so often darkens our Light grieves our God and troubles our Consciences Secondly The Christian hath this Gain by Death Not onely that he hath the Better of the contrary Estates but also that by Death he p●sseth from an Imperfect Good Estate unto a Perfect Good Estate He Now comes to be of Full Age and to be a Full Possessor One says That This Bernard Life This Present Life is Not Vita sed Via ad Vitam It is Not Life but a Motion a Journey towards Life He speaks it of the Natural Life but we may raise it even to the Spiritual Life of a Christian His Spiritual Life comparatively considered is rather Via then Vita a step towards Life then Life Compare All which you are possessed of as Beleeving Christians in this Life with All that of which you shall be possessed in that other Life you may speak of them what Paul spake of the Two Ministrations Even that which was made Glorious had No Glory in this respect by reason of the Glory that excelleth 2 Cor. 3. 10. And therefore the same Apostle comparing the Present Condition of Grace with that Future Condition of Glory saith Now we see through a Glass darkly But Then Face to Face Now I Know in part But Then I shall Know even as also I Am Known 1 Cor. 13. 12. Look how Great the Disproportion is between a dark and a clear Seeing and between our Knowing of God and Gods Knowing of Us the one being very Imperfect and the other being very Absolute So Great is the Disproportion of the present Condition of Spiritual Life on Earth to that Glorified Life in Heaven 'T is true you have the same God on Earth which you shall have in Heaven and you have the same Christ on Earth which you shall have in Heaven But yet your Conjunction with Him and your Fruition of Him in Heaven is wonderfully more perfect and exquisite then it is or can be here on Earth His Manifestations of Himself to your Souls and your Apprehensions of those Manifestations are most compleatly Enlarged You shall then Know and Love and Enjoy your God even as much as Glorified Souls can Know and can Love and can Enjoy a God And God himself discovers as much of Himself unto your Souls as will make them perfectly Blessed and Fully Happy in the clear Vision and Fruition of Himself Now this Addition perfect Addition to Our Estate occasioned by Death doth plainly prove That to dye is Gain You shall Never Reign till you dye You shall Never Know as you are Known you shall Never Apprehend as you are Apprehended you shall Never be at Home you shall Never come to a Perfect Holiness to a Perfect Sight to a Perfect Full Fruition Never be Perfectly Filled up Until you Dye Thirdly The Christian hath yet one more Exaltation of His Estate by Death and that is an Invariable Eternity Whatsoever the Christian ●inds in Himself in this Life for the Habituals of Grace It is Imperfect and whatsoever he findes for the Comfortables of Grace It is very Various Sometimes it is More and sometimes it is Less Sometimes it is High and sometimes it is Low and Sometimes it is None at all Sometimes Heaven is opened and Sometimes the Vision is drawn up and Heaven is shut One while he sees the Face of God and Rejoyceth Another while God Hides his Face and then he is Troubled But by Death he comes to a Fixed and Invariable Eternity He shall Ever be with the Lord And as the Angels so shall He always behold the Face of his Father O Christians It is always Day in Heaven There the Sun still shines in Strength and Beauty and Never Sets and Never Declines Thy Joy shall be an Everlasting Joy Never Interrupted Never Eclipsed Never Diminished Full at once and Full for ever Eternal Happiness Happy Eternity Perfect Fruition and Eternal Fruition Perfect Pleasure and Eternal Pleasure As long as God is God so long will your Compleat Happiness be and abide in your God for ever and ever and ever And Now having cast up All Accounts Tell me whether you may not say with Paul To me to Dye is Gain I have read a Fancy of one Trophonius that when he had Built and Dedicated that goodly Temple at Delphos asked of Apollo for his recompence That Thing which was Best for Man The Oracle willed him to Go home and within Three days he should have it and within that Time he dyed O Christian The Best thing on Earth is to live so as to Get into Christ But the Best thing of All is to dye and to be with Christ I have done with both

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΚΕΡΔΟΣ Christ the Life and Death the Gain of Every True BELEEVER OR THE Life of a Saint Resolved into Christ AND His Death into Gain Held forth clearly in a SERMON preached at the late sad and solemn Funeral of the Right Worshipful Rowland Wilson Esq a Member of the Parliament of England and of the honorable Councel of State and one of the Aldermen and Sheriffs of the City of London By Obadiah Sedgvvick B. D. and Minister of the Gospel at Covent-Garden Together with an Epistle Dedicatory wherein is an exact Account given upon some years more then ordinary Experience of the superlative Worth of this Eminent Servant of Christ and of the Common-wealth By George Cokayn an unworthy Teacher of the Gospel at Pancras Soper lane London Isaiah 57. 1. The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come Difficile est definire extra Christum sitne mori utilius quam vivere rursum adsit Christus vitam nostram perinde ac mortem benedicet ut sit utraque nobis fausta expetenda Calv. London Printed by J. Macock for Thomas Brewster and Gregory Moul at the three Bibles in Pauls Church-yard neer the West end 1650. To the truly Religious and ever Honored Mrs Mary Wilson disconsolate Widow to the late worthy and godly Patriot Rowland Wilson Esq a Member of the Parliament of England and of the honorable Councel of State and one of the Aldermen and Sheriffs of the City of London Grace and Consolation from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ VIRTUOUS LADY IT is enacted by the Supream Power of Heaven and Earth That man the Master of the Creation should be a servant and a helper to the most contemptible creature fallen under his burden by vertue of that Law the Ox or the Ass might Exo. 23. 5. Deu. 22. 4. challenge and command help from their owners Doth God take care of Oxen Surely for our sakes these things are written to shew that the Lord in a special manner doth oblige and command all that mention his Name to make themselves to the utmost comforting and refreshing to all his people who taste the bitterness and feel the weight of an afflicted state God no sooner hears the sad cries and complaints of poor oppressed Israel in Egypt but Moses hears the news from * Exod. 3● 9 10 God of his going with a present Message of Relief to them Nay the Spirit himself God equal with the Father and the Son shall upon the same account be * Ioh. 14. 16 sent from Heaven and this shall be the great Title he shall be invested with viz. The Comforter To comfort the Saints is a work every way suitable to the highest in Heaven or Earth to perform When I consider these things but especially recollect the innumerable Obligations which are upon me from the constant flowings forth of your expressions of friendship to me I being for many years together your poor unworthy Servant in the things of the Gospel could not but in a special maner account it my duty solicitously to endeavor the bringing forth of something which through the blessing of God might be instrumental to the scattering of the darkness of that night which is now upon you through the late inexpected and sadly lamented setting of that Sun which did shine so gloriously in your Horizon And truly amongst all other things which my thoughts endeavored to engage for your refreshment I found none so exactly calculated to your condition as that incomparable peece of Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Mr Ob●diah Sedgwick that 〈◊〉 and godly Messenger of Christ at the late sad and solemn Puneral of your loving and beloved Husband And seeing the reverend Author through a modest and humble disowning of himself was unwilling to be Midwife to his own Birth I have with his consent and leave obtained through much importunity made bold to present it to you as that which through the concurrence of divine blessing may administer exceeding abundant consolation to your drooping and decaying Spirit I cannot but look upon this Text and Sermon as an exact Comment upon your prec●●us husband his life and death his life was nothing else but a continual resolution of all his actions and ends into Christ and his death nothing else but a victory over sin and a sure conduct into the blessed state of eternity And now did I not fear the further opening of the sluces of your swelling passion to the breaking in of an irresistible torrent of sadness upon your Spirit I could very easily engage my self to a voluminous Discourse of this nature but lest the lifting up of him should renew an occasion of casting down your Spirit I shall the more briefly present before you and the whole world what in my own observation was always since I know him eminently deserving in him Whereby it will plainly appear that the Life and Spirit both of Text and Sermon did clearly shew forth themselves in him The truth is when I consider the exactness of his carriage in all relations I am very apt to think that as for a complication of all perfections he while he lived was * Nulli secundus second to none so now he is gone there will scarce another appear second to him He was an incomparable Husband to you an excellent Man to the State and a precious Christian to God He was to you the sweetest yoke-fellow in the world not one of his carriages but apparently bearing the Image of that Fountain from whence it sprung viz. strong wise and intire affections He loved exceedingly and yet ruled discreetly You had I am sure all you desired which was his heart but not his head He was Plin nat Hist li. 10. cap. 62. never like the hee-viper which put his head into the sheevipers mouth What God gave him to keep he kept and what God gave him to communicate to you he did punctually perform The truth is both of you in this were ex●ct Disciples to Moses always confining your selves to your proper apparel That perfection methoughts which was amongst the rest as the Sun in the midst of the Stars was his unparalleld contentedness in the want of children like Abraham in this that he never in the least grieved you by abraiding you but excelling Abraham in this that he never either to God or man unbecomingly complained of the want of a mercy so naturally desireable but still expressed his sence of the full and compleat making up of that tryal next to Christ in your self And when it pleased God to lay a real foundation of hopes of enjoying that blessing he was indeed like a Beleever affected with the goodness and Providence of God but not at all so transported as if he had not been long before crucified to it And when it pleased God to return and blast those

panting and looking after Christ if at length he findes him I found him whom my Soul loveth Cant. 3. this makes a Full Amends for All his Tears and Prayings and Waitings So doth this of the Magnifying of Christ If Christ be set up in his Throne the Christian then Repents not O No This is Reward enough for All that ever he hath done or suffered for Christ And thus you have the First Part demonstrated unto you That Real Christians do propound and set up Jesus Christ as the Scope and End of their Life Their Life is bound up in His Life Nothing lives unless Christ lives And this is the very sum of their All to be Servants with their All to Christ I now proceed unto the Second Part Namely 2. Why Real Christians do live and should live unto Christ There are Five Reasons for that and I beseech you to weigh them well 1. You are Christs Not onely by Gift Thou gavest them me Joh. 17. 6. Nor onely by Relation I will marry thee to my Self Hosea 2. 19. But also by Purchase Therefore you should live unto your Christ If you were Christs onely by way of Donation you should live unto Him What is Given to Him that is to be used for Him If you were Christs onely by way of Relation you should live unto Him The Inferior part of the Relation is for the use and service of the Superior part of the Relation 1 Cor. 11. 9. But besides these you are Christs by way of Redemption and Purchase You Are Not your own For you Are Bought with a Price therefore Glorifie God in your Body and in your Spirit which are Gods 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. Mark the Apostle in this place He saith to Christians You Are Not Your Own Why whose are They then They are Christs And How come they to be Christs He tells them how Ye Are Bought with a Price And what of that Therefore Glorifie God c. If the Land be my Purchase should Not the Fruit of that Land be my Benefit Christians they are Christs Purchase He purchased them by his own Blood Act. 20. 28. And therefore All the Rent of their Lives must be payd in unto his Glory Ah Christians It cost Jesus Christ very dear to Redeem your Life from Death The Redemption of your Souls was the costliest Purchase that ever was made Ye were Redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1. 19. This was the Price It did cost Christ His Life to Save your Life and should he Not have That Life which he purchased by His Life yea and by His Death Quicquid es debes Creanti Quicquid potes debes Redimenti said Bernard Whatsoever thou Art Thou owest to Him who made thee and whatsoever thou Hast Thou owest to Him who Redeemed thee 2. Jesus Christ is the Lord of Life The Prince of Life Act. 3. 15. The Lord of the Living and of the Dead Rom. 14. 9. He is the Lord of Life For Efficiency Our Life comes from Him who is our Life and For Authority The Keyes of Life are in his Hands If Any of you be the Lord or Master of a Servant as that Servant may expect Protection Sustenance and Reward from you so do you expect and challenge Obedience and Service from him His Work is yours His Trading is yours His Gaining is yours All the Stock which he employs is your Stock and it is employed for your Advantage The Lord is the End of the Servants Life And so must Jesus Christ who is the Lord of Life and the Lord of your Lives be the End of your Lives For He is Your Lord 2 Pet. 1. 2. And you are Christs Servants 1 Cor. 7. 22. Your whole stock of Life is from his Grace and therefore it is to be layd out for his Glory 3. All the Spiritual Principles of Life which are conferred upon you do encline and enable you to live unto Christ to set up Christ to act for him and to exalt him And they are given for this end that you should be the Servants of his Glory and in their proper sphere do move for this very end to shew forth the Praises of him who hath called you I will instance in a Few of them First Unto you is Given Precious Faith And what is the Natural Labor of Faith but to Set the Crown on the Head of Christ To Glorifie Jesus Christ Faith makes you to Forsake All for Christ and to Bestow All on Christ who Bestows His All on you Secondly Unto you is Given a Superlative Love of Christ Saw ye Him whom my Soul loveth said the Church Cantic 3. 3. Thou Knowest that I love thee said Peter Ioh. 21. 17. O Lord Jesus said Bernard I love thee more then All my Goods Plusquam mea plusquamme●s plusquam me and I love thee more then All my Friends yea I love thee more then All my Self Now you know that Love seeks not her own 1 Cor. 13. 5. All the powers and services of Love are His whom we entirely love His we Are and For Him we Are whom we do love Thirdly Unto you is Given Humble Self-denial And what are Humility and Self-denial but the Footstool of Jesus Christ But your selves in a dark Cloud that Christ above may shine in Glory You in Nothing and Christ in All You in Service and Christ in Praise None but Christ for your Confidence and None but Christ for your End Lastly Unto you is Given Burning Zeal And what is that Zeal but a Flame for his Cause and Glory Whether we be besides our selves it is to God 2 Cor. 5. 13. All the Activities and Enlargements of Zeal are put forth in Services for Jesus Christ 4. Of All People you who are Real Christians have the most forcible and cogent Obligations to resolve your Lives unto Jesus Christ For whatsoever may emphatically engage Any to Respects and Services that takes Abundant hold on you to express these unto Christ O Christians What is not Christ to you What hath not Christ done for you What hath not Christ suffered for you What will not Christ do for you and what is that weight of Glory which you shall have from your Christ after that you have done a little more weak Services for your Christ Christ is Life to you and Love to you and Mercy to you and Peace to you and Righteousness to you and Sanctification to you and Redemption to you and Help to you and Hope to you He is your Friend He is your Saviour He is your Glory He is your Christ to the utmost For All For ever and For ever All that ever he did and All that He is Now doing and All which ever he will do All this hath a special and peculiar Respectiveness and Serviceableness to your Good to your everlasting Good Why then Eye for Eye and Love for Love and Service for Service and Life for Life again Thou hast Redeemed us to God by

the Doctrinal Propositions from the Text There remains Nothing behinde but the useful Applications of the whole unto our Selves Is the Life of a Real Christian Resolved into 1 Vse Christ Then I Fear that there Are But Few Real Christians in the World What Christ spake of the Way which did lead to Life Few there be that Finde it Mat. 7. 14. That I may speak of Christ as the Scope of our Life Few there be who make Him so and minde Him as so All seek their own Not the Things which Are Jesus Chri●ts Thus the Apostle long since and so may it Now be complained Phil. 2. 21. If we did faithfully cast up All the Ages of Life and All the Services and Disbursements of those Ages What think you would in the Foot of the whole account Fall unto the share of Christ That Age of Infancy is found to be but a Cipher We Know not what it was Nor for whom it was it was a meer Fancy of Life That Age of Youth is found to be but a Vanity A Vain Life it is and if layd out on Any thing that same Goes wholy upon the account of Pleasure which is the Bane and Madness of Life That Age of Manhood is found to be but the Death of Life therein men Serve their lusts weary themselves in their Iniquities give up themselves to Sin with greediness this is the Reproach and Loss of Life That Age of Old-Age wherein the Grave is digging for Life wherein the Glass is even run out and the Candle is spent to the last inch yet this Age where Men are stepping out of the World is that Age wherein Men most dote on the World and are Scraping for the things of this Life And thus either Nothing hath our Lives or Vanity which is the best of Nothing hath our Lives Or Sin which is worse then Nothing hath our Lives Or the World which is little better then Nothing hath our Lives And Jesus Christ who is the Best of All things hath no share at all or if any it is the last the least the dregs and snuffs of our Lives This I speak onely in the general but give me Favor to Press this sad Conviction a little closer unto our Selves There are Four sorts of men who do not live to Christ They cannot say To me to live is Christ 1. Spiritually dead men unconverted men It is impossible to live to Christ until Christ doth first live in us Christ cannot be the End of Life where He is not the Principle of Life It is an excellent Expression which Ambrose hath That is not a Death but Life which Joyns the Dying Ambrosius in 1 Tim. 5 6. Man to Christ and that is Not a Life but Death which Separates the Living Man from Christ Now how many men are there who have not the Life of Christ in them Nay who are Alienated from the Life of Christ are dead in trespasses and sins 2. Self-Interested men who live wholy unto themselves The Apostle speaks of Some who are Lovers of themselves 2 Tim. 3. 2. and who are Seekers of themselves Philip. 2. 21. and who are Minders of themselves They minde Earthly things Phil. 3. 19. Of all these we may say as God spake of Israel Israel is An Empty Vine he brings forth Fruit unto Himself Hosea 10. 1. These men are so far from living unto Christ that they would for Self ends make a Living of Christ himself 3. Offensive men who live to the Dishonor and Reproach of Christ Many walk of whom I have told you often and Now tell you even weeping that they are the Enemies of the Cross of Christ Phil. 3. 18. Christians in Name but not in Life in Life they are the Enemies of Christ Salvian relates how the Heathen did Reproach some Christians who by Their lewd lives made the Gospel of Christ to be a Reproach Where said Salvianus de G. D. l. 4. they is that Good Law which they do Beleeve Where are those Rules of Godliness which they do learn They read the Holy Gospel and yet are Unclean They Hear the Apostles Writings and yet are Drunk They Follow Christ and yet disobey Christ They profess a Pure Law and yet do lead Impure Lives O Sirs A wicked Life in a Christian is so far from living unto Christ that it is a Blaspheming of Christ and a Crucifying of Christ and putting of him to open shame 4. Dull and unsensible men of such did one long since complain That they did Patientiùs ferre Christi Jacturam quam Suam more calmly pass by the Injuries done to Christ then those which were done unto themselves Many men do carry themselves towards the Blasphemous Dishonors of Christ as the Priests did to the heavy Complaints of Judas What is that to us See thou to that Although they do Know how much the Person of Christ and the Truths of Christ and the Ordinances of Christ are opposed and contemned yet they lay None of these things to Heart They pass by the Wounded man they speak not for Christ stand not for Christ act not their Parts and Power for Christ Is this your Love to Christ Is this your Care for Christ Is this to live to Christ Can you ever answer Christ for this But I pass on Is the Life of a Real Christian resolved 2 Vse unto Christ Then let us every one strive so to live so to employ and improve Life that Christ may be magnified by us You Read That the Four and Twenty Elders Fell down before Him that sate on the Throne and worshipped Him that liveth for ever and ever And did cast Their Crowns before the Thr●ne saying Thou Art Worthy O Lord to Receive Glory and Honor and Power for Thou hast Created All things and for Thy Pleasure they Are and were Created Revel 4. 10 11. So let Every one of us Prostrate All our Excellencies and All our Abilities All our Places and Powers and Endevors to the Honor and Glory of Jesus Christ If we had a more clear and experimental Knowledg of the Surpassing Love of Christ we would do so That would Endear our Hearts to Christ That would Inflame our Hearts for Christ It would make us to spend and to be spent for Christ O that you who are Parliament-men would live more for Christ Who amongst us have such Power and such Opportunities to do for Christ as you have God speaks Honorably of Phineas He was Zealous for my sake Numb 25. 11. And Christ commends Ephesus For my Names sake thou hast Labored and hast not ●ainted Revel 2. 3. Put out your Selves against Blasphemies and Profaneness and put out your Selves for All the Ordinances Truths and Ways of Christ c. O that you who are Magistrates of this City would live more to Christ Do more for Christ Be more vigorous in Punishing and Restraining the open Profanations of the Lords Day Notorious Drunkennesses and Abominations Encourage and support