Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	blood_n	jesus_n	lord_n	4,450	5	3.5689	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30217	A sermon preached at Owburne in Buckinghamshire at the funerall of the right worshipfull, and truly religious gentlewoman, Mris Margaret Elmes On the twenty-seaventh of Iuly. 1641. By George Burches batchlour of divinity.	Burches, George, d. 1658.	1641 (1641)	Wing B5615; ESTC R215067	18,917	40

have such peace without contending such truce without opposing so quiet and calme a league without all manner of resistance Marvel not then ye monsters of sinne though sometimes ye see poore christians looke with a sad countenance or sorrowfull carriage It is not an easy task to give Satan the foyle his darts are fiery consumeing the spirits How is it possible on a sudden to make havocke of a mans naturall corruption or to destroy that life of sinne which for so long continuance hath had being in our soules Delude not then your selves any longer in crying peace for you see christians are fighters And they that will be warriers in Christs camp shall have dreadfull dreames fearefull visions troubles without terrors within and now and then the Arrowes of the Almighty to stick into and drink up their spirits Acquaint thy selfe with Iob demand of David what wounds they received in this warfare and what it is to be a faithfull souldier such can tell thee Yet if thou wouldst know by experience leave off thy wicked associates change the course of thy lewd life and fight the battailer of thy God and then thou shalt finde thy thoughts to bee many thy heart heavy thy griefe great and thy feare terrible Use 2. This may serve in the second place to comfort the godly who have bickerings with the flesh skirmishes with the world and alwayes warre with the devill yea the very bitternesse of assaults encountering with them let them not be daunted or dismay'd for this is no other thing then that which is incident unto the profession of those that fight under the colours of Christ Doth the flesh entice thee the world allure thee the devill tempt thee yea his instruments molest thee Let this then refresh thee that it is no other evill then which did befall the dearest of Gods children The case is common with them For when the strong man keeps the house all is at peace at home but goe about to dispossesse him then will hee rage and teare If Nehemiah begins to repayre the walls of Ierusalem Sanballet shall oppose him Paul to preach the Gospell his owne countrey-men will persecute him Satan when his kingdom shakes will rouze up himself arm all his Agents to act their parts least Babell be confounded and overturned Let not these things seem strange to thee for no combat no christian When the devill doth assault thee the body of corruption lyes heavy upon thee and death with his many Ghostly forms terrifies thee then conclude thou either art or shalt be a right resolute heavenly warriour For these are foes to all them that fight for the Lord or the land of life Use 3. Seeing that faithfull men are military men let us then in the last place labour to stand upon our guard like traine-souldiers let our armour be alwayes in readines for the place wherein we are which is the Church is militant our calling Military not one minute can pleade a priviledge fom an encounter If the case were thus with our bodies that we were still in danger to be set upon by our enemy and knew not when he would fall upon us we would bee carefull to bee well provided Thus is it with our soules and therefore by how much the more excellent the one is then the other by how much the more puissant and powerfull the spirituall enemy is then the corporal by so much the higher it concerne us to stand upon our guard Now that wee may quit ourselves like heavenly warriours let us have these fowre weapons alwayes in readinesse First knowledge this is like unto Sampsons eyes who for the want of them could not find the pillars of the house no more can we the principles of faith unlesse knowledge guide us For without this wee le oft foyle our friends when wee should wound our foes and range beyond our rankes when we should keep within our files Thus it was with Paul before he did receive Christs presse-mony through ignorance he made havock of the Church of God and Peter on the same ground did promise what he was not able to performe Without knowledge the mind is not good and blind men are not fit to fight except under the Prince of darknesse and therefore we must labour in the first place to bee arm'd with knowledge 2ly Courage what heroicall spirit hath that man need to have who is to wrastle with principalities and powers with an heavy burden of sinne and strong body of corruption he had not need to be a puleing babe affrighted with the power of his adversaries But as litle David was not dismay'd either at the threats of his enemy that great Giant at Gath or the greatnesse of his lookes or the strength of his hands but did with the greatest valour overcome him so must we doe arme our selves against Satans forces not flying back when he seeks to assault us but meet him most stoutly opposing couragiously both his power and policy untill we have wonne the victory who otherwise would have prevayled had we not been armed with courage 3ly Love This weapon will stirre up our spirits and adde life unto all our actions when wee our selves grow feeble and weake the Apostle tells us it is of a lasting nature that when all other weapons fayle yet this will endure Let Satan be enraged never so much against us and raise up his instruments to molest and hurt us yet love will make us stand to our ground resist unto blood And though death it selfe supprise us as the strongest dart yet love to our captaine the Lord Iesus hath taken away her sting so that our enemies cannot mortally wound us they may only bruise us in the heele they shall never breake our heads nor give us a deadly stroke 4ly Power The Prophet David being an old souldier prayes for it Psalm 51.2 S. Paul a worthy warriour often commends it Eph. 6.10 A christian should bee like that Leviathan Iob speakes of Iob. 4● his heart firme as stone his bones as brasse hee accounts Iron as straw and esteemeth steele as stubble no arrow can make him flee nor speare turne him from the battayle Want of power makes us a prey to our enemies and then wee are most in danger to loose the field when wee are not able to fight Let us be armed therefore with power Hee that hath knowledge without power is like a souldier that hath his eyes but wants his armes He that hath knowledge and power is like a souldier that hath his eyes and armes but without courage wants his heart He that hath knowledge power and courage is like a souldier that hath his eyes his armes his heart yet without love he lacks his lims For power can warre but without courage dares not power courage can and dare but without love will not power courage love can dare and will yet if knowledge direct not there will be no good event in the combat Wherefore get knowledge

her beginning at her birth and pedigree She was cut out of no meane quarry It was a custome amongst the Indians sayes Phylostratus after the death of any worthy person to inscribe his acts upon the dores of his house for the ennobling of his issue So it was ever esteemd no meane blessing to be well descended And surely if I should take upon me here the part of an Herald in imitation of them write upon the doors of her house her descent both by father and mother I could easily derive her as you know better then my felfe descending from Honourable Right Honourable and truly noble blood But what is greatnesse without grace or honour without goodnesse but as the Cabanet which wants the Iewell or the Casket that is empty of gold It is the greatest infamy to bee like unto hills the higher the barrener when wee should be as Diamonds the bigger the better But such was not this vertuous gentlewoman I may say of her truly in the words of the Apostle she was fruitfull in good works These shined in her devout soule like heaps of Diamonds in rings of gold being the Characters of true nobility did declare to the world her descent from the royallest blood the great King of heaven It is Godlines that makes us truly great and though wee bee never so much honoured amongst men on earth yet if we be not Gods favourites we dye in infamy and our very names shall rot But enough of her birth which wee all know was honourable Let us come in the next place to her life shee had as we all now have A course to finish but this is her happinesse her journey is at an end our misery we are still a travailing towards it Shee hath that in fruition which we only yet hope for even this crown of righteousnesse in the text Now if the world enquire how she hath got it or the way she took to obtaine it I answer in the words of S. Paul by fighting a good fight and keeping the faith She was a right constant heavenly warriour that at the conclusion of her dayes not three houres before that last one of her death I found her to have her weapons in readinesse Knowledge Courage Love and Power First Knowledge which by continuall practise from dayly reading of the word she had procured Shee did not like Martha encomber her selfe with wordly businesse but with Mary did chuse the better part And this did her dayly practise declare whose constant course was foure times in the day to set her selfe a part for the service of her God So that I may say of her as it is spoken of devout S. Hierome she lived every day as her last day And thus labouring to encrease in knowledge she did attain to no small measure of it for a litle before her death when I began to tell her of Satans wiles to beat us off from being confident of Gods favour when wee were in the weakest state to resist him with much confidence she returnes me answer in that comfortable expression of S. Pauls Rom. 8. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angells Rom. 8.38.39 nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall bee able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thus word for word as strong as she was able a litle before her dissolution exprest her selfe Neither was this perswasion grounded on a generall knowledge which is a common guift but on a practicall experimentall and saving knowledge which none are enricht with but such for whom God hath layed up a crown of righteousnesse There are indeed a generation of men and women that pretend much knowledge but in her it was reall not in pretence Shee was none of those talking Ladies whose Religion appeares onely in the tongue But shee was more for good works then words Much like unto that worthy woman the mother of S. Greg Nazianzen of whom it is said that had shee an Ocean of wealth shee would have emptyed it all into the bellies of the poore So I may say of this vertuous Gētlewomā there was an Ocean of pitty enclosed within the compasse of her heart and when any poore neighbour stood in need of her bounty she gave most liberally to them And all this did arise from her knowledge who knowing that the smallest releife given to the distressed members of Christ should not passe unrewarded at the last day 2ly As shee did abound in knowledge so with Courage for though death which to nature and sense is said to bee the most terrible of terribles yet the thought of it did not any way daunt her spirits She could with boldnesse looke death in the face which when she was put in mind of the approaching hour thus heavenly exprest her selfe that howsoever God was pleased to dispose of her whether for life or death like a couragious christian she concluded shee should bee the Lords Resolving like Iob to undergoe affliction patiently and with S. Paul to suffer death willingly if the Lord be so pleased or hath appointed it Now would you know the reason of this courage It was that holy practise of her life whereby continuall purging and embracing all gracious opportunities of hearing the word preached shee did so dayly renew her covenant with her God as that hereby the sting of death being taken away it could not any way affright her A rare patterne for the greatest Ladyes to follow whose life if they did but seriously consider would confine themselves more unto their closets to meditate on God and goodnesse then now they loose time in their chambers in contriving of fashions and following the vanities of this sinfull world Oh remember you great ones of the world that you are but dust and you know not how soone you may bee resolv'd to your first principle which is dust Now if in the midst of your worldly pomp and honour you should see death appeare unexpectedly as Belthazar's hand-writing did on the wall before you had made your peace with your God how would it make your joynts to tremble how would it fill you with horror and amazement especially to thinke that you have served no other God but your pleasures you never sought after that which would have made you truly honourable Surely if these serious thoughts could but possesse your soules with this vertuous Gentlewoman you would turn your times of playing into praying and by making the word of God your delight would endeavour with this now glorious Saint to procure the assurance which at the finishing of your course would make you more then Conquerors through the Lord Iesus Christ that loved us 3ly She was armed with Love in respect of which vertue I may say of her as Solomon speaks of the good woman Prov. 31.2 Many daughters have done vertuously but thou surpassest them all Her goodnesse