Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bear_v	sin_n	world_n	4,338	5	4.9247	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A58146	Blessedness, or, God and the world weighted in the balances of the sanctuary and the world found too light preached in a sermon at Paule, before the Right Honourable the Lord Major, Aldermen, and commonalty of the city of London, on a thanksgiving-day, for the prosperity of our navy in a conflict with the Spaniard, October 17, 1656 / by Francis Raworth ...	Raworth, Francis, d. 1665.	1656 (1656)	Wing R372; ESTC R18645	28,408	72

BLESSEDNESS OR GOD and the WORLD Weighed in the BALANCES OF THE SANCTUARY AND THE World found too light Preached in a Sermon at Pauls before the Right Honorable the Lord Major Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of London on a Thanksgiving-Day for the prosperity of our Navy in a conflict with the Spaniard October 17. 1656. By Francis Raworth Teacher to the Church at Shore-ditch London Printed by T. Maxcy for John Rothwell at the Fountain in Goldsmiths-Row in Cheap-side 1656. To the Right Honorable ROBERT TITCHBURNE LORD MAjOR And the Right Worshipful the ALDERMEN of the City of LONDON Honorable and Beloved IT cannot be denyed but that our greatest happiness in this world is That we have liberty to make provision for the world to come yet generally so unhappy are men as that they little ponder upon their future Crown and little consider of their present race but either they vainly mis-spend their time to allude to the Roman Emperor in gathering Cockle shells in heaping together the Mammon of unrighteousness or in a more degenerous way in a base drudgery for the lusts of the Flesh The Profession of Christianity laboreth under two Extreams some pretend to an Anticipation or prevention of Heaven and would fain perswade us that there is no state of Glory after this life These men notwithstanding their present Triumphs are under great Temptations and in a sober sense are rather besides their wits then above Gods Institutions Others charge the faithful Professors of Religion with usurpation against God with Antedating the state of Perfection as if they did confound the distinction between the Church Triumphant and Militant No say they Purity and Holiness are our aim on earth but our possession onely in Heaven These Sensualists may learn that the great change of man is made in this world and onely confirmed in the next the Tribunal Bar Regenerates no man but publiquely and finally acquitteth the Regenerate Heaven must first enter into us before we can enter into Heaven though the perfection of Purity be onely in Heaven yet the principle of Purity is to be had on Earth He that dies a sinner shall never rise a Saint He that by the Love of the Brethren shoots not the gulf here shall never pass from death to life hereafter He that hath not God to be his Lord now shall never have the Lord to be his God Wo be to that man that was born and is bred and shall be buried in sin that goes out of this world in that condition that he came into the world with happy had he been that he had never been born happy if when dead he never should have had a resurrection because he shall arise not so much to be judged as to be condemned Nothing is so much discoursed of as blessedness yet nothing so little understood some place it one thing some in another yet both amiss some men would be happy but without communion with God which is impossible These should know That God hath not onely Mines of Brass but Mines of Silver and Gold and that though the enjoyment of this world be not an Argument of Gods anger yet it s no argument of his peculiar love and therefore we must take heed of valuing the good things of Gods foot-stool above the good things of his Throne My work in this Sermon hath been to give the world its due both in its white and black sides I have weighed the blessedness of this world and of the next in the Balances of the Sanctuary and notwithstanding this world be pondrous in a providential sense yet comparatively by the verdict of God himself it is found too light to which when you had given a patient hearing you were pleased by your order to importune its publication I have satisfied your request and my prayers to God are That because it is a subject of the highest nature that it may have the deeper Impression on your hearts That as God hath lifted you up into the seat of Honor so you may lift up that God with Thankfulness That as you have publick Opportunities to do good to restrain Prophanation and discountenance Error so you may have hearts suitable to your Opportunities That as God hath thrown into your laps the outward Happinesse of this World so you may prize the Benefactor and set a greater Estimate on the light of his Countenance the least beam whereof is worth ten thousand Worlds Your Honors and the Churches Servant in the Gospel Francis Raworth PSAL. 144. ult Happy is that people that is in such a case yea Happy is the people whose God is the Lord. WHatsoever the Prophet David whose Character is A man after Gods own heart doth undertake he performs it cordially and heartily If he be in a gratulatory vein and fall to the praises of God he cannot nullifie and debase man too low with him He is but vanity and his days are but as a shadow not worthy to be taken notice of ver 3 4. And he cannot magnifie and advance the Lord too high He is his Goodness his Fortress his Tower his Deliverer and his Shield If he be in a praying posture he is so pathetical and powerful as if God q. d. could not deny him audience Bow the Heavens O Lord and come down send thine hand from above and deliver me out of great waters I and with such a majesty and life as if he had the key of Gods Armory to open it at pleasure and to throw out swords and flaming fire of wrath against the wicked Cast out lightning and scatter them shoot out sharp arrows and destroy them ver 5 6 7. Finally If he begin to exalt God he sets him out with such beauty and excellency as no Creature or created comfort can be preferred before no not possibly be weighed in the balance with him to which purpose it is observable that as the maledictions threatned against David were presented by the Prophet under three forms of War Famine and Pestilence so here in the latter part of this Psalm the Blessings of God are expressed under three contraries against the Pestilence is opposed this Petition That our sons may be as Plants grown up in their youth ver 12. Against Famine That our Garners may be full affording all manner of store ver 13. Against War That our oxen may be strong to labor that there be no breaking in nor going out that there be no complaining in our streets ver 14. And my Text is an Epiphonema with which he concludes Happy is that people that is in such a case c. There is a double blessedness sinistra beatitudo a Blessedness of the left hand a Blessedness of this World And secondly There is dextra beatitudo a right hand Blessedness a Blessedness of Grace of Salvation This Blessedness is the aim of men on earth but the perfect possession onely of men in Heaven Accordingly there is a double interpretation of this Text suitable

come to the Application of the Proposition and treat with your Consciences in these following Deductions or Conclusions First Conclusion from hence is a Vindication of that true Opinion that Gods people have of the false happiness of the World Wicked men are infiliciter felices unhappily happy you feliciter infelices miserable in your Imagination but happy really and indeed You rightly and righteously determine that a man may have a gay coat and a festered Conscience a great Estate in his hands but little or no true comfort in his heart that though Riches have not so much as the wings of a Sparrow in flying to us yet they when gotten make to themselves wings and that of an Eagle to flie away from us That worldly delights are but as a Snow-ball which being with much pains heaped up together melteth presently if the Sun do but shine out That restless man in wrestling and contending for what he desires is but like a childe running up and down in a pleasant Meadow after a painted Butterfly which when he hath taken all the recompence it affords is but onely to besmear his fingers You speak truly and soundly when you say That a dram of Grace is worth a pound of Gold that all the contents and Creatures in the earth are but meer Ciphers unless God be purposed to set on the first Figure That while a Diadem sitteth light on a Princes head it may for all that lie heavy enough on his conscience That there is no indivisible connexion between a Kingdom on Earth and a Crown in Heaven That a man may possibly swim in a Sea of Pleasures in this World and yet sink into an Ocean of wrath and Brimstone in the next That a man may be so honorable so rich so glorious while he lives that every man may be ready to say There goes an happy man yet that man when he dies for want of a configuration to Christ and title to God may be miserable to all Eternity Could men carry their estates beyond the Line of Mortality and with their money ●ee the Angels at last day to plead for them to prevent the Sentence of the Judge of Heaven and Earth or after that Sentence is pronounced bribe the flames of Hell-fire to be pitiful towards and not to prey on or torment them this were something for worldly happiness but when we see that there is no advantage though a man gain the whole world if yet he lose his own soul that all these sublunary felicities are consistent with Gods eternal indignation that these things neither singly nor joyntly can so much as asswage grief put off cares much less adjourn death or prevent Hell where there is no remission of sin no intermission of punishment where the pangs of the damned are not onely for the present intolerable but for the future interminable Who would not pray with a gracious heart Lord let me be rather miserable for a time as the world speaks that I may be happy for ever then that I should be happy for a season onely and after that miserable for ever Lord though I desire to be of the number of those Christians that have their hope and expectation in this world yet deliver me from those worldlings whose entire portion is in this world is this world Psal 17.14 Now we are ready to call the proud happy to lift up them high in our thoughts that are lifted up in the world but when Jesus Christ shall come to give to every man according to his works and in flaming fire to render vengeance to them that know him not on the one hand and on the other hand when he shall come to make up his Jewels that now are despised and to repair their reproaches before God in the sight and audience of men and Angels that now are triumphed over and trampled upon by men Who would deem himself happy at that day if he be not in their case whose God is the Lord The second Deduction Here we see as in a Looking-glass the false Opinion that worldly men have of true happiness or of the state of the godly How ready is a wicked man to compassionate the children of God Alas saith he To what purpose are these men so precise and exact It may be there may be a Judgement day it may be not and how miserable are they to provide for that which no man living ever saw while they neglect that which is obvious to their very senses Honors are certain riches are certain and while they expect their food they starve while they pretend after a Kingdom they go naked while they call God Father they want even the bread of children Whereas no man is miserable in another mans accompt but in his own You may possibly see a Joseph in Prison while Pharaoh keeps a Court a Job on a dung-hill while a Julian is on a Throne You may see them poor and reproached but did they ever tell you they were miserable and when they were without Estates and reputation that they wanted them to make them happy never say a childe of God is miserable till he say so of himself A wicked man may have Blessings and yet not be blessed and a childe of God may have curses still from men and yet not be cursed It s observed That men thus varyed their Opinion about happiness because they supposed the fruition of that whereof they were destitute would make them happy He that was poor said If I had but riches I should be happy and so riches came to be called happiness He that was in reproach said Oh! If I were but respected I should be happy and so respect and repute came to be called happiness He that was diseased said If I had my health I should be happy and so health came to be accompted an happiness The natural man is mistaken in his verdict the Saint saith I accompt all things loss and dung for Christ the natural man I accompt Christ loss and dung for any thing else in this life The Saint seeks for happiness in crosses Job 5.10 but the natural man or Philosopher will assoon seek for light in darkness heat in cold fire in water sweetness in gall and wormwood as for comfort in calamities Hence Christ reads a Lecture contrary to nature Not blessed are the merry but the mourners not the lofty but the weak not the Mammonist but the poor in spirit Matth. 5.3 Vos editis beatos esse pauperes Ergo ut tanto facilius f●atis beati omnia bona vobis adimimus Juliani scomma in Christianos factum Those eight Beatitudes are the eight Paradoxes of the world As Christ said He had bread to eat that his Disciples knew not of so the Disciples of Christ have an happiness to enjoy that the natural man knows not of The World should consider That a man can never properly be miserable till he lose that which made him happy You that call outward things

childe to provide for in all the world besides The Lord hath a Book to write down your names and a bottle to put your tears in His power likewise is yours the Lord hath not so much need of your patience as you have of his power and as what the Lord is he is for you and as what the Lord hath he hath for you so what the Lord can do he will do for you Though the promise of God be the measure of your faith and therefore beware in times of tryal of charging your selves for unbelief when God himself possibly doth not in that particular command you to believe yet your faith is not the measure of his power The Lord usually doth for his Church more then they believe and we must believe he can do more for his Church then he doth nothing but contradiction to speak reverentially of God passeth omnipotency Gods people have a double guard one within them and that is The finger of God the Spirit another without them and that is The arm of God his Power a double hold also on God as he hath that double guard on them Promise what he will do experience what he hath done As Sions cause is good so she wants not as good a Champion to maintain it The name of the Lord is a strong Tower and though the righteous cannot rest in a name of Godliness yet they may in the name of God and therefore in times of trouble they run to it Prov. 16.10 Lord may Syon say Support under tryals and deliverance from danger is an Article of thy Covenant And will not the Lord be faithful Are our infirmities many the Lord our God hath mercy to pardon them Are our corruptions many he hath power to subdue them Are our sins great he hath love to cover them What a Constellation and Centre of Attributes are in God! Righteousness Holiness Wisdom Power Grace and mercy I every one of these Attributes is God and as when Mithridates espoused the daughter of a poor laboring man the General to testifie the approbation of his choice sent the old Father a Cap full of gold with which he being over-joyed runs up and down the streets shewing of it to all the people crying out All this is mine So may the people of God whose Promises Providences Ordinances Attributes Graces are theirs triumphantly signifie to the world All these are ours and that which is more then all this if more can be you whose God is the Lord Sixthly Have a propriety in God himself in Christ himself as the Lord when he could swear by no greater sware by himself so he having no greater thing to give gives himself Christ who is the beloved of the Father and the First-born of every Creature he likewise is yours your King to Rule you your Priest to satisfie for you your Prophet to Indoctrinate and teach you his Death and Resurrection and Intercession are yours not onely for signification but for efficacy His blood his precious and pearless blood is yours to pardon you His glorious and sweet Spirit is yours to purifie and purge you And for all things else in the World they are 1. But short and transitory Riches are well called Moveables and ere long they will either take their leave of us or we shall certainly take our leaves of them Honor is but brittle it is even like Glass of which they say when it shineth brightest its nighest melting And for the rest how uncertain are all things money for the Thieves Merchandizes for the Winds Cattel for the Rot Buildings for the Fire The glory of this World is in it self but the Scheme but the Picture of Happiness and it will not sit so long before your eyes as that you may draw its Picture it s gone before you can say 't is here But suppose Worldly happiness were long yet Secondly It s Insatisfactory Worldly comforts are even like drink to the Dropsie man encreasing thirst like Wood to the Fire enlarging its Flame The chest may be filled with gold but God onely can fill the heart These things cannot make you happy because they are desired not for themselves but for other things but the Lord is desirable not for something else beside himself but onely for himself Deus propter Deum If you have Riches you may look beyond them and see Honors to tempt your eye if you have Riches and Honors you may look beyond them and see moral Wisdom to tempt your head if you have all these you may yet look beyond and see health to tempt your heart And while these partial and imperfect happiness lay before you you may look beyond them all and see a necessity of something else that is God to be your God But let a man be made an heir of salvation let a man be adopted into the Family of God and be able to say The Lord is my God and I provoke that man to say its true God and Christ and Heaven and Grace are mine but I want something else besides these in the world to make me happy These things are not universally good clothes are but for the back meat for the belly musick for the ears flowers for the smell and eye c. but the Lord is a Catholick a viscerate and entire good he is Almighty or All-sufficient As a man that hath a minde to some particular dish can finde all dishes in that one dish as suppose Patridges Capons or Pheasants So a childe of God can finde all things in God riches honor pleasure The covetous man makes his gold his God but a gracious heart saith God is my Gold A man may have silver but silver shall never satisfie him without God but if a man love God he will satisfie him without silver When a poor Beggar is matched to a Royal Prince she views his Palace she surveys his gardens and pleaseth her self in a delightsome prospect of all his greatness and glory and can say These are mine for the Prince himself is mine So because you have a title to the Fountain the streams are yours Whatever happiness is scattered here and there abroad in the Creatures it is all virtually eminently and superlatively in God I read of a couple of Ambassadors the one a Spaniard the other a Venetian and they did both of them extol and prefer the Revenues of their particular Masters said the Venetian Ambassador My Master hath so many chests of Silver and Gold alass said the Spanish Ambassador Your Masters Treasures have a bottom but my Masters Treasures in the Indies have a Root a Spring So may a true Saint say to the World your riches and comforts have a leak or limitation but my Lord Jesus his comforts and riches his Treasures have neither Banks nor bottom God is mine and if he can make me happy I shall not be miserable This this my Beloved is your Inventory for Happiness that can say The Lord is our God I shall now