Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A44950
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A sermon preached at Worcester on the 18th of April, 1686 being the second Sunday after Easter / by H.H., S.J.
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H. H. (Henry Humberston)
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1686
(1686)
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Wing H3365; ESTC R14501
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10,105
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29
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Cross at their going out at their coming in again at putting on their Cloaths at the washing of their Hands and the lighting of Candles at their going to Bed in a word at whatsoever action they imployed themselves in Quaecunque nos conversatio exercet This is the second Reason of our respect to the sign of the Cross it is a tacit invocation of the most blessed Trinity by the Merits of our Crucified Redeemer It is to testify that we believe that no favour can be obtained of God but by him and for him Before I give you a Third Reason I must put you in mind that Almighty God as he is a most liberal Giver so is also a severe exacter of Thanks we may see this by his proceedings with the Children of Israel in the Old Testament He never did them any notable Favour but he commanded a Monument to be Erected to preserve the memory of it and to transmit to Posterity the Obligation of giving Thanks for it for Example he freed them out of Captivity by Killing every First-born of the Egyptians in one night for a memorial of this benefit he commanded them to keep a solemn Feast called the Passeover and to mark the Posts of their Doors with the Blood of the Lamb to the end their Children might learn That the destroying Angel when he killed every first-born in the houses of the Egyptians passed over the houses of the Hebrews without doing Them any harm Exod. 12. v. 27. He fed them in the Desert with a Bread from Heaven called Manna for a remembrance of this he would have a Gomer i. e. a certain measure to be filled with it and to be kept in the Ark of the Covenant that future Ages might know the Bread with which he had nourished them in the Wilderness Exod. 16. v. 32. He made them a Passage thro' the River of Jordan as he had done before thro' the Red-Sea That this might not be forgotten in subsequent times he bid them take twelve Stones out of the bottom of the dry Channel and place them upon the Bank that after wards Fathers might tell their Children why these Stones were laid there and so make them know their obligation of thanking Almighty God for the favour done them Josh 4. v. 22 23. In fine all their Festival-days all their Ceremonies and Sacrifices were so many Remembrances of their delivery out of Aegypt and bringing them into the Land of Promise Read Deut. 6. v. 20 c. The same duty of thanksgiving he exacts of Christians with so much more reason as 't is a greater favour to be delivered out of Hell fire than out of Aegypt and to be brought to the Kingdom of Heaven than to Palestine and therefore we have our Monuments to put us in mind of our Redemption as well as they our Christmas our Goodfriday our Easter our Ascension-day our Whitsontide all the Feasts of the Year are to put us in mind of some benefit received from God the most dreadful Sacrifice it self what is it but a Memorial of his Death and Passion Do this in remembrance of me Luk. 22. v. 19. Now amongst other industries we make use of to keep up the memory of our Redemption One and that a very proper one is the Sign of the Cross the Cross is a Monument of Christs Victory over the Devil a testimony of his Love towards Mankind and a Sign of our delivery from the thraldom of Sin by the Cross saith St. Chrysostome he broke down the gates of Hell and loos'd the Souls of the Just that were imprison'd there he unlockt Heaven and made us a free passage in thither by the Cross he reconciled God to Man and restored Man to the fellowship of the Angels by the Cross saith the same holy Doctor death was turned into a sleep and that which was the destruction of life is made an entry into life Eternal that which was the Punishment of sin is become the Crown of Martyrs When we look upon the Heavens we remember the greatness of him that made them and when we make the Sign of the Cross we call to mind the Goodness of him that dyed upon it God Almighty in the Old Testament Deut. 6. commanded the Jews to have his Laws and Ceremonies before their eyes continually to meditate upon them day and night in their houses and in the high-ways at their lying down to sleep and at their rising again because as 't is there said they were memorials of their delivery from Bondage the Cross is a memorial of our delivery out of a worse Bondage than that of Aegypt and from a heavier Yoak than that of Pharoah therefore with greater reason we ought to think of it day and night at home and abroad at our lying down and at our rising up again To this end the antient Christians as St John Chrysostome witnesseth did erect Crosses in all places viz. in the Churches in the Markets in the Towns in the Fields in the High-wayes and upon the tops of Mountains that wheresoever they went wheresoever they turned themselves they might have before them the sign of Gods Love and their own Redemption And here is the Third Reason for the Sign of the Cross it is to put us in mind of the Victory Christ gain'd over the Devil and of our own delivery out of Hell-fire One Argument more and I have done St. Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians c. 2. v. 14 15. saith That our Saviour Crucified did carry the Devil in triumph and made him a spectacle to God and his Angels 'T is a remark of Origen upon this place that as Christ was Crucified visibly so the Devil was Crucified invisibly Our Lord by suffering himself to be Crucified you know did deprive himself of the use of his Arms for a time so the Devil by the Cross lost the use of his Arms i. e. of his power over mankind for ever and therefore was Crucified invisibly more than Christ was visibly For this cause he is afraid of the Cross as a Malefactor is afraid of the Gallows or as a Dog is afraid of a Stick with which he hath been beaten Metuunt illud signum in quo Salvator aëris expolians potestates eas fecit ostentui the infernal Spirits saith St. Anthony in his life written by St. Athanasius fear that Sign by which our Saviour triumphed over them and made them the scorn of Heaven and Earth Those two great terrours of the Devils Anthony Hillarion as we read in their Authentique Histories written by St. Athanasius abovesaid and St. Hierome did alwayes make use of the Sign of the Cross as the most efficacious Weapon against them Nay which is wonderful it hath not this force only upon the Foreheads of Saints but sometimes also if so pleasing God for the clearer demonstration of the efficacy of it when it is made use of even by wicked men We read in the Church-History written by Eusebius Caesariensis