Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	follow_v	soul_n	5,999	5	5.3241	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96652	A good and seasonable caveat for Christians. Delivered in a sermon at the funerall of the right worshipfull Sir Charles Shirley, Knight and baronet, in the parish church of Breedon, in Leicester-Shire. / By John Wilson, Master of Arts, and preacher of Gods word in the sayd parish. 7. Octob. 1646. Imprimatur, Jo. Downame.	Wilson, John, of Breedon, Leicestershire.	1646 (1646)	Wing W2899; Thomason E1182_5; ESTC R204901	27,614	71

A man may lose his estate and may recover it with more then he had before he may lose his health and may recover it with more then he had he may lose his credit and may recover it with more estimation then he had before but if once he have lost his soule he must never looke to recover that againe Poets and Historians writ of some that have gon to Hell and returned againe as of Ulysses that went thither to consult with Tiresias Aeneas that went thither to talke with his Father Anchises Orpheus that fetcht his Wife Euridice thence Pythagoras also that going thither reported at his returne that he saw Hesiod tied to a brazen pillar and Homer hanging on a Tree full of Snakes for feigning such things on the Dieties Admiranda canunt sed non credenda Poetae these be strange things but they are not true for the Scripture assures us that there shall be no returne from Heaven or Hell If any man be cast into Hell though his eyes gush out with rivers of water yet there shall be no one to comfort him no one to helpe him no one to doe so much as coole his tongue with a drop of cold water O that we had hearts to consider this that so we might take heede to our selves and keepe our soules diligently 5 Rea. Lastly we should looke carefully to our soules for if they be lost body and all is lost and if they be safe body and all will be safe for where the soule at death goes before the body at the resurrection will follow after Good to this purpose is that of Chrysostome if saies he we neglect the soule the body cannot be saved for the soule was not made for the body but the body for the soule he therefore which neglects the soule being the first and chiefest part and mindes the body only loses both but he that seekes after the salvation of the soule though he neglect the body yet by the soules salvation the body also shall be saved which is most elegantly set downe by Aristotle Lib. 7. metaphysic ex sanitate animae fit sanitas in corpore by the safety of the soule safety is wrought to the body If you have but so much faith as a graine of mustardseede to lay hold on Jesus Christ as the Saviour of your soule your body shall be sure to be saved also Rom. 8. 32. he that spared not his owne Son but gave him to death for us shall he not with him give us all things else that are necessary I might give you more reasons why we should seeke so diligently after the salvation of our soules But I must not be totus in singulis I therefore proceede to Application and the use which we shall make hereof is twofold First it serves for confutation Secondly for exhortation 1 Vse of consutation Have we such great cause to seeke diligently after the salvation of our soules Sure then they are much to blame that care more for temporall things then they doe for the salvation of their soules Some prodigalls what cost doe they bestow upon Houses Horses Hawkes Dogs and what cheap account do they make of their souls the House must be magnificently built and furnis●t the Horse must be pampered and kept fat and faire {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and all things must be brave and gorgeous but there is no care taken that there be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a beautifull soule I have read of a spruce Roman that riding through the streets of Rome on a leane horse was demanded by the Censor why hee being so spruce a man rode on so poor a horse Unto whom he answered ego curo incipsum servus vero equum I take care for my selfe but my servant for my horse In like manner I doubt there are many that onely take care for their bodyes but neglect seeking after the salvation of their soules Some there bee that esteem more of agility of body then fervency of spirit others esteem more of strength of the body then grace of the soule others there be that esteem more of beauty of the body then purity of the soul and if such as these have beauty how doe they mince and trip it up and downe contemning and despising others and yet God knows beauty is but a deceiving vanity favour is deceitfull and beauty is vaine Forma est mera deceptio visus beauty is a meere deceiving of our selves a meere flout a meere scoffe For what face is there bee it never so beautifull in youth but if it live long it will be plowed with the furrows of old age and if it live not to old age yet it is subject to deformity many other wayes and yet some are more enamoured with this vanity then they are with their soules The covetous man cares not what becomes of his soule so he may have but plenty of riches these count wealth the summum bonum the chiefe good and therefore seek onely after it and not after the salvation of their soules these are the seed of the Serpent and indeed have the curse of the Serpent sticking on them to licke the dust these covetous wretches deface the image of God that was stamp't on them by continuall rubbing against the earth these like wormes and no men crawle upon the ground or like hogs they go rooting downe-wards in the earth and indeed they may well be compared to hogs for as hogs are alwayes rooting downwards in the earth and seldome or never look upwards till being ready to be killed they are layd flat on their backes and forced to it so these covetous miscreants goe groveling downe-wards and lye scraping in the dung-hill of this world and never looke upwards or thinke of heaven or salvation till wrestling with the pangs of death they are thrown flat on their backes and then perhaps the Minister is sent for the sacrament and heavenly things desired but if the Minister perswade them before this time to be weaned from the world and to seeke diligently after the salvation of their soules they are ready to say as the devils to our saviour art thou come to torment us before our time they are loath to be saints too soone and if they must needs be weaned from the world they would put it off till the last day and houre of their death when they can enjoy it no longer It is fabulized that the crab gave the Serpent his deaths wound for his crooked conditions and seeing him stretch himselfe out straite said At oportuit sic vixisse you should have lived so Let the covetous worldling that seekes not after the salvation of his soule take heed that when he lyes gasping as it were in the suburbs of death and begs for salvation that God answer him non at oportuit sic vixisse but thou shouldest so have lived as that thou mightest now have beene sit for heaven But

regulated by the rule of piety Lastly take heede to your consciences there may be so much said for this that I shall say but little Salomon saies that a good conscience is a continuall feast Prov. 15. 15. and indeed so it is if we be weake it is a staffe to support us if in want a comforter to relieve us if in suites of Law it is the best agent to pleade for us if falsely accused it is the best witnesse to cleere us if wrongfully condemned it is a most upright Judge to vindicate us There can no estate or condition befall man either so prosperous or averse but that the comfort of a good conscience will appeare in it It comforts in prosperity and adversity in sicknesse and in health in life and in death and which is best of all it yeeldes transcendent comfort at the day of judgement For when among the wicked at the dreadfull day of Jesus Christ there shall appeare nothing but horrors frights and amazements be heard nothing but feareful shri●kes ululations cries and howlings for feare of the sentence of malediction that shall there be pronounced against them even then there shall be nothing but joy exultation and heavenly consolations to them that have taken heede to preserve their consciences spotlesse being assured of the sentence of benediction which shall then be pronounced to them at which time their bodies being reunited to their soules they shall be both received into everlasting salvation which every one ought diligently to seeke after which is set forth in the next part of my Text the duty in these words keepe thy soule diligently whence we conclude this observation 2 Obser. That every Christian should have a speciall care of his foule and keepe that diligently To this purpose we have both the Precept and President of Gods Children in sacred writ First for Precept see St. Paul exhorting us to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. and Phil. 2 12. he bid us worke out our salvation with feare and trembling so Moses in our Text bid us take heede to our selves and keepe our soules diligently As for president looke on St. Paul and you shall finde that he was so carefull of his soules salvation that as the Nicene Fathers would not gratifie Arrius in the least compliance with him so neither would he conforme in any thing to the Doctrine of Seducers And if you read the life and death of the Martyrs you shall finde that they were so carefull of the salvation of their soules that they would not in the least semblance condiscend to the Pagan Persecutors though they might thereby have come off with corporall safety But not to trouble you with multiplicity of examples looke but on one president more and that shall be David a man after Gods owne heart The Lord had wonderfully magnified his mercy towards him in many eminent favours first in respect of his estate when he tooke him from following his Fathers Ewes great with young to feede Iacob his people and Israel his inheritance Psal. 78. 70. 71. when he translated him from a shepheards crooke to a scepter of gold Psa. 70. 71. Againe the Lord did well for him otherwise too in respect of his strength for he had as magnanimous a heart as a Lion 1. Sam. 17. 49. And when that proud Philistine Goliah came rayling and defying the God of Israel notwithstanding his menacing tearmes he encountred with him and slew him and so tooke the reproach from Israel Againe the Lord did wonderfull well for David in respect of his beauty for he was a man of a more then ordinary pulchritude as you may see prooved 1. Sam. 16 12. the Text there sayes that he was ●uddy and withal of a beautifull countenance and goodly to looke on Againe the Lord did wonderfull well for him in respect of his issue for he had a marvellous great issue And I doubt not but David was truly thankfull to the Lord for all these ●nercies bestowed on him in respect of his body and his estate But yet I am resolved that hee minded more the salvation of his soule then he did all these things and I gather this from his owne words in the 14. Psalme he declares that he longs for the salvation of God and if you looke on him in the Psalme 25. v. 20. you shall finde that being surrounded with miseries he hath a speciall care of his Soule and desires the Lord to keepe that safe so Psal. 86. 2. hee prayes the Lord to preserve his Soule and having received some speciall favour for his Soule you may finde him making a solemne invitation unto the righteous to come and heare what the Lord had done unto his Soule Psal. 66. 16. Come and heare all yee that feare God and I will declare unto you what he hath done for my Soule thus you see God's children have at all times been so carefull of their Soules that they would rather suffer death then doe any thing that might hinder the salvation of their Soules such care ought we also to have of our Soules Wee should keepe them diligently and that for these Reasons 1 Reason First because of the excellency of the Soule which consists first in the puritie of it Secondly in the unitie and singularitie and Thirdly in the inequality that is between it and any thing else First in the puritie of it which though it be shapelesse and immateriall yet would it make a man heavenly proud to contemplate of how divine a nature excellency and qualitie the Soule is In puritate est Deo simillima in its puritie it is as a God and hereupon saith a writer let me worship the great God of the little God my Soule and good to this purpose is that of Seneca Quid aliud est anima quam Deus hospitans in corpore humano what other thing is the Soule but God lodging in the body and Bernard standing in admiration of the excellency of his Soule breakes out into these words How beautifull art thou O my Soule thou art ennobled by the Image of God stampt on thee adorned with his likenesse espoused to him by promise redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ Quid de te dicam what shall I say of thee tu maximum es quod esse potest in parvo loco Thou art the excellentest thing that may be contained in so small a place as the body Nobilitas tua omnibus mundanis praeferenda thy excellency exceedes all earthly treasures According to this is that of Augustine as saies he the Creator excells all the Creatures even so the Soule is farre more excellent then any of them Secondly consider the excellency of the Soule consisting in the unity and singularity of it God hath given unto one body two eyes two hands and two feete but he hath given it but one Soule he hath given two eyes to the end that if one