Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A27044
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A sermon preached at the funeral of that faithful minister of Christ, Mr. John Corbet with his true and exemplary character / by Richard Baxter.
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Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.
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1680
(1680)
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Wing B1416; ESTC R17576
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26,901
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40
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charging God foolishly as if he did them wrong 3. It shall keep them from damning despair When Satan sifteth them Christs intercession shall keep their faith from failing Grace shall humble them and save them from sin and the flesh and world they shall cast soul and body upon Christ and trust him in hope in their several degrees And those that have been more believing heavenly and fruitful than the rest are likest to have the greatest peace and comfort especially in their greatest need Quest And how is Gods strength manifested in our weakness Ans 1. It is manifested to our selves by keeping us from sin and sinking into despair and enabling us to bear and trust and wait and usually in the peace or joy of hope We know we are insufficient for this our selves When flesh and heart as natural fail us God is the strength of our hearts and our portion for ever Psal 73. 26. We do not think oft before that ever we can bear and overcome as grace enableth us 2. And it 's manifest oft to others who shall see that power of grace in the sufferings of believers which they did not see in their prosperity Vse 1. Let not then our own weakness and insufficiency too much distress us with fears of suffering and death yea when we feel the thorn let us not forget our help and strength By Grace here is meant the living and merciful help of God especially giving us the inward strength by which we may not only bear but improve the sufferings of the flesh This body was not made to be here incorruptible or immortal we were born in sin and therefore born to pain and death We have lived in sin and no wonder if we live in sorrow but the sufferings of our Redeemer have sanctified our sufferings The Cross is not now such a cursed thing as guilt had made it He took our suffering flesh and blood that he might destroy by death the devil that had the power of death and deliver us who by the fear of death were all our life-time subject to bondage Heb. 2. 14. Our pain prepareth us for endless pleasures and our sorrows for our Masters joy When we have suffered with him we shall reign with him He liveth and we shall live by him He is risen and we shall rise by him He is in Glory and we must be with him In the mean time his Grace is sufficient for us not only in health and ease but in all our pain and sickness He is not so unskilful or unkind as to give such physick to his own which shall do them more harm than good Though it be grievous at the present it brings forth the quieting-fruit of righteousness but we must first be exercised therein Let us not then be his impatient patients Grace can support us and overcome Men are not sufficient Our wit our power our worthiness are not sufficient but God's grace is sufficient If ease and life had been better than Grace and Glory we might have had them But God giveth us better than flesh would chuse Though the body be weak the head weak the memory weak the stomack weak and all weak yet God is strong and his strength will support us and bring us safe to our journeys end Lazarus lay among dogs in weakness at the rich mans doors but the Angels convey'd him in strength to Abrahams bosom We must lie and languish and groan in weakness but Omnipotence is engaged for us We must die in weakness but we shall be raised in power by him who will change these vile bodies and make them like to his glorious body by the power by which he can subdue all things to himself Phil. 3. 20 21. Let us therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees Heb. 12. 12. Looking to Jesus the Author and finisher of our saith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross And let us beg more for divine grace and strength than for the departing of the thorn Grace is better than ease and health If the soul be our nobler part than the body the health of it is more desirable Bodily ease is common to bruits and wicked men strength of Grace is proper to Saints Ease and health in this life are short but Holiness will be everlasting Health fits us for fleshly pleasure but Holiness for Communion with God O pray not carnally for the flesh more than for the spirit for earth more than for heaven Pray that while the outward man is perishing the inward man may be renewed day by day and that our light afflictions which are but for a moment may work for us an exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the temporal things which are seen but at the eternal things which are unseen to us 2 Cor. 4. 16 17 18. Why should we grudg at any sufferings which are for the glory of Gods grace and strength As Christ said of Lazarus This sickness is not unto death that is the end of it is not to end his life though he dye but that the glory of God may be revealed So pain and death are not Gods ends but the manifesting of his grace and strength But alas it is not only the flesh that is weak but Grace it self as it is in us though not as it is in God and of God nor is it flesh only that hath the thorn but the heart or conscience also hath its part The spirit of a man if sound and well will sustain his bodily infirmities But a wounded spirit who can bear If faith were not weak if hope and love and desire were not weak the weakness of the body might well be born If sin and guilt were no wound or thorn in the soul and conscience we could be more indifferent as to the flesh and almost as quietly bear our own pain and death as our neighbours Though it 's hard to say is Tertullian Nihil crus sentit in nervo cum animus est in coelo yet our content and joy would overcome the evil of our suffering But alas when soul and body must be both at once lamented this this is hardly born Lord seeing it is thy sufficient Grace and not my bodily ease which I must trust to and my weakness must manifest thy strength O let not Grace also be in me insufficient and weak O let not Faith be weak nor Hope nor Love nor Heavenly desires and foretasts be weak Nor Patience and Obedience weak Head is weak and heart is weak but if Faith also be weak what shall support us At least let it be unfeigned and effectual and attain its end and never fail Flesh is failing and health as to its proper strength is failing But be thou my God the strength of my heart and my portion for ever And what ever thorn the flesh must feel yet let me finish my course with joy Amen I have run over many things in
cry for Mercy and abuse it no more Christ did not blame the blind and lame for crying out Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on us Nor the Canaanite VVoman for begging for the Crums is any afflicted let him pray and send for the Elders Prayers The Thorn in the Flesh will make us feel and feeling will teach us to repent and pray and prayer is the means of hope for the deliverance of Body and Soul Grace maketh us not stupid yet there are some that think a man behaveth not himself like a Believer if he cry and pray that the Thorn may depart What think they of David in Psal 6. and 17. and 88. And many more What think they of Christ that prayed that if possible the Cup might passe by him He did it to shew that even innocent nature is averse to suffering and death through Grace makes us submit to the Will of God we continue men when we are Beleivers we must mourn with them that mourn and yet not love others better than our selves nor feel their Thorns more sensibly than our own VVe must neither despise chastenings nor faint But how doth Paul pray Doth he make any great matter of of his thornes He besought the Lord thrice that it might depart Observ 13. Even earnest and oft Prayer is suitable to sharp Afflictions There is a kind of Devils and so of Satans thornes which go not out but by fasting and prayer no not by Christs own Apostles The sense and means must be suited to the malady God can do it upon one prayer or upon none but we are not so easily fited to receive it And Paul in this also is conformed to Christ who in his Agony pray'd thrice against his Cup though with submission Vse 1. You see here that the Apostles gift of healing was not to be used at their own will nor for their own flesh that it might not suffer but for the confirmation of the Faith when it pleased the Holy Spirit Troplainus and Epaphroditus might be sick and Timothy need a little VVine with his VVater though Paul had the gift of healing Vse 2. O let our pains drive us all to God who hath not some Sicknesses are all abroad what house how few persons have not some and yet is there a Prayerless house or person If Faith have not taught you to pray as Christians methinks feeling should teach you to pray as men I say not that prayer must shut out Food and Physick but Food and Physick will not do if prayer prevail not with the Lord of all Vse 3. And think not thrice or continued praying to be too much or that importunity is in vain Luk. 18. 1. Christ spake a Parable to this end that men ought always to pray and not wax faint VVhether God deliver us or not prayer is not lost it is a good posture for God to find us in we may get better if we get not what we ask Obey and Pray and Trust God But what answer doth the Lord give to Pauls thrice praying He said My grace is sufficient for thee and my strength is manifested in weakness 1. It was not a promise that the thorn should depart 2. It seems to be rather a denial at the present and that Paul must not be yet cured of his thorn for it is called a weakness that must continue for the manifesting of Gods strength and what was the sufficiency of grace and strength for but to endure and improve the thorn 3. But this promised grace and strength is better than that which was desired Obs 14. Even oft and earnest prayer of the greatest Saint for deliverance from bodily pains may not be granted in the kind or thing desired For 1. we are not Lords but beggars and must leave the issue to the donor And God hath higher ends to accomplish than our ease or deliverance It 's meet that he should first fit all his actions to his own will and glory and next to the good of many and to his publick works in the World and then to look at our interest next 2. And we are utterly unmeet judges of matter manner time or measure what God should give us for the body and how much and how and when When should we be sick or pained or persecuted or dye if all our prayers must be absolutely granted We know not how much better God is preparing us for by pain and bringing us to by dismal death He will not keep us from grace and glory because our flesh is loth to suffer and to die 3. And in this Paul also was conformed to Christ He was heard in the thing that he feared when in his agony he prayed with strong cryes but it was not by the removing of the bitter cup but by divine strength and acceptance And so it is with Paul sufficient grace and strength to bear is the thing promised Vse 1. We see then that they are mistaken that think Christs promise of giving believers whatever they ask will prove him a breaker of his promise if the strongest believer receive not all that he asketh for the body Was not Paul a strong believer All that God hath promised and we are fit to receive God will be sure to give 2. Let not unbelief get advantage by Gods not granting such prayers for the body Say not Why then is it my duty to pray 1. You know not before-hand but God may give it Possibility bids you beg 2. Why did Christ pray against his Cup 3. You lose not prayer you draw nearer God you exercise repentance and desire you signifie your dependance you are prepared for much greater gifts Obs 15. When God will not take the thorn out of our flesh and deliver us when we pray from bodily sufferings he will be sure to do better for prepared persons even to give them his sufficient grace and manifest his strength in their pain and weakness It is not for want of Love or Power that he lets us tumble on our beds in pain or lie under slanderers or persecutors rage He that with a word could make the World with a word can save us from all this But if we suffer not how shall suffering-graces be exercised faith patience self-denial and hope Is not grace better than ease or life How shall we get the benefit of suffering if we feel it not How shall grace and divine strength be manifested to our selves and others Quest What is it that Grace is sufficient for Ans 1. Not to set us up above the frailties of humanity and mortality nor to raise us to the joy that souls in heaven have 2. Not to every one alike but in our several measures some fear pain and death more than others some have greater patience and joy and long to depart and be with Christ But to all the faithful it shall suffice 1. To keep them from revolting from Christ and repenting of their choice and hope 2. To save them from