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	glory_n	soul_n	7,514	5	5.1723	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56406	The faithful and diligent Christian described and exemplified, or, A sermon (with some additions) preached at the funeral of the Lady Elizabeth Brooke, the relict of Sir Robert Brooke, to which is annexed ... an account of the life and death of that eminent lady : with an appendix containing some observations, experiences, and rules for practice, found written with Her Ladiship's own hand / by Nath. Parkhurst ...	Parkhurst, Nathaniel, 1643-1707.	1684 (1684)	Wing P489; ESTC R14746	35,723	168

raising our Minds above the World and things of this Life to the Desires Hopes and Expectation of the Joys and Pleasures of Eternity and in maintaining a real and delightful Converse with God daily and in a careful thankful acknowledging Him in all the Good that befalleth us and insensibly apprehending that our Happiness consisteth in the Knowledg of Him and his Love and Favour towards us in Christ All this is our Duty and included in the Work of the Lord and we may not willingly omit any thing of it By which we may perceive that though in some respects Christ's Yoke is easy and his Burden light viz. being considered with its Reward and the Assistances of Divine Grace and compared with the wicked Man's Way and End considered together yet it is not altogether easy since so much is to be done Religion and Godliness have their Difficulties and he must be diligent that would not fall short of the Glory of God since the Duties besides that they are great are so numerous as hath been now represented according to the Scriptures II. All this must be endeavoured and practised with much Steadiness Having thus begun in the Spirit we must not end in the Flesh Having put our Hand to the Plough we may not draw it back and make our selves unworthy of the Kingdom of God Whatever may be the Rage of Satan and whatever Objections may arise in our own Hearts against any part of our Duty we may not quit it But considering that the Eye of God is upon us and that it is necessary to persevere to the end and looking at the Joy that is before us and imploring the Aids of the Holy Ghost we must break those Bonds of Temptation to Sin in sunder and cast away such Cords from us and remain fixed in Piety constant to Godliness unmoveably resolved to abide in it Cleaving to God with purpose of Heart Acts 11.23 and avoiding that Reprehension in Hos 6.4 Your Goodness is as a Morning Cloud and as the early Dew it goeth away And that we may be the more animated to Constancy in Religion and Godliness let us consider the many glorious Examples of this Steadiness Noah continued firm in his Obedience to God in the midst of a very wicked World Gen. 7.1 Thee have I seen Righteous in this Generation Lot in the midst of the polluted Sodomites preserved himself and mightily regretted their Wickedness Joseph in Pharaoh's Court and Moses in the Court of another of that Name Obadiah in Ahab's David in Saul's Daniel Ezra and Nehemiah in the Courts of the Persian Emperors remained steady in Holiness notwithstanding varieties of Temptations both of the alluring and affrighting kind The holy Apostles and Primtive Christians and the Antient and Modern Martyrs preserved their Integrity in the midst of violent Temptations to desert Religion They stood like unmoveable Rocks in raging Seas and turned back the Force of Temptations as they do the insulting Waves Wherefore let this be our firm Resolution in the Strength of God That the World shall never gain nor force us to revolt from Him and his holy Ways but that whatever Changes may come we will be the same and though the Mountains should be removed and the Hills carried into the midst of the Seas we will still keep Faith and a good Conscience being stedfast and unmoveable in the Work of the Lord. III. We ought not only to be stedfast but also perpetually progressive in all this Duty like the shining Light shining more and more to the perfect Day Our Repentance must be increased and perfected by greater degrees of Mortification Our Faith must grow aiming at the Patriarch's Degree who was strong in Faith giving Glory to God and who against Hope believed in Hope Rom. 4.18 20. Our Love must be more intense our Obedience more exact willing and chearful our Charity more compleat and every Grace ascending and aspiring after greater Degrees going on conquering and to conquer which thing is very possible for Grace is as capable of Growth and Increase as the Plants in the Field or the Cloud of an hand 's breadth It is compared to a Grain of Mustard Seed Which from the least of Seeds grows up into the greatest of Herbs St. Mat. 13.31 32. We may assuredly if we earnestly design it mightily advance in Grace and become much more humble holy obedient mortified patient and heavenly and may add much to our present Attainments and may carry our Victories over Temptations much further to higher degrees of Conquest and Triumph even on this side Heaven And as we may so we ought for this God requires of us That we should bring forth much Fruit that from Babes we should advance to a more perfect stature in Christ and encrease with all the Encreases of God And that in proportion to our Means Mercies Chastisements Experience and Time offered us we should grow in Grace and in the Knowledg and Love of God and Christ to which there is no Encouragement wanting For IV. The Recompence will abundantly answer the Labour which shall not be in vain We shall find a sure and sufficient Reward partly in Peace of Mind Serenity of Conscience and present Joy in the Holy Ghost and chiefly in the future State For 1. Having been stedfast and abounding in our Duty when our Souls shall leave these Tabernacles of Clay whose Foundations are in the Dust as their first Principle Angels shall convey them to Heaven and there Christ will receive them and God the Father will acknowledg them and being entred into that blessed Place we shall have all the Happiness our Souls are capable of in the State of Separation from the Body And this is no less than an entire Deliverance from Sin Sorrow Fear Temptations and Afflictions with the Acquisition of perfect Grace and likeness to the Angels in Humility Purity Zeal Reverential Fear of God delight in Him and Charity one to another Moreover We shall be little less than equal to them in Peace and Joy and the Enjoyment of God in a Vision of Him by Intellectual Sight far transcending our best Knowledg of Him here by Faith For now we see him by Faith only in his Works Providence and Word all which amounts comparatively but to the seeing him through a Glass darkly but in Heaven we shall see Him face to face and know Him in some sort as we are known 1 Cor. 13.12 2. Having been stedfast and abounding in Piety and Holiness we shall in the end of the World recover our Bodies again with advantage for they shall be raised again in Incorruption Glory and Power being made Spiritual Bodies vers 42 43 44. This Corruptible shall then put on Incorruption and this Mortal shall put on Immortality and Death shall be swallowed up in Victory And who can express the Joy and Pleasure that will arise from the Soul 's re-entring into the new-raised Body As a Prince that leaves an old Palace till it be

rebuilt with much more Glory Magnificence and Splendor returns into it with more Pleasure than ever he had in it before so the Soul will rejoyce much more in it s repaired Fabrick than ever before during the time of this mortal Life especially upon finding it purged entirely from Sin the fretting Leprosy in the Walls of it which could never be cleansed but by the breaking of it down And probably there will be a mighty Addition to this Pleasure by the Soul 's sensible uniting with it or joyning to the Body with a Perception of doing so The first Union that was made between them was to the Soul insensibly performed by the meer Hand and Power of God in the first Formation of the Body and so the Felicity of that Uniting was never understood But at the Resurrection the Body being raised again and most gloriously formed and the Soul coming down from Heaven and knowing to what end it descends will with a strange Pleasure sensibly enter again into its old Habitation repaired and made glorious And being raised from our Graves with this Pleasure of the Reunion of Soul and Body we shall be conducted to Christ's Right-hand and hear such Words as these spoken to us by Him the Judg and Lord of all Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World And Well done good and faithful Servant enter you into the Joy of your Lord. When the Ungodly shall hear the Words of the Curse more terrible than the Thunder on Mount Sinai Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels And then together with all the Church of God and the holy Angels we shall Souls and Bodies united together never more to be separated ascend into the highest Heaven and enjoy throughout an Eternity the fullest most refined and most agreeable Happiness that our Natures are capable of which if we can believe depending upon the Verity of the Scriptures we must acknowledg our Labour is not in vain And why should we make any doubt of it Have we not all the Evidence we can have of this matter The Scriptures have the Attestation of multitudes of Miracles performed and Prophecies fulfilled They have the Signature of God also upon them in the Holiness of the Matter and the Majesty of the Stile in many places never Book spake like this Book The Matters of Faith in it are so high the Mysteries so grave and sublime the Precepts so holy and pious the Promises so agreeable and refreshing to Minds that are mortified and purged from Vice the Threatnings so solemn severe and just the Examples so glorious and the whole so admirable that if we consider it we cannot imagine the Author to be other than God who is most holy just and good There being then no doubt but that the holy Scriptures will be in all Points verified and in particular in the Promise of future Happiness consisting in a glorious Resurrection and a blessed Immortality as the Reward of true Holiness Let us be perswaded to comply with God in the things he requireth of us And let us manage our Lives according to our Christian Profession and our Vowes in Baptism and since And let us hearken no more to the Charms of Sense the Voice of a tempting World and the Whispers of the Devil our great Enemy enticing us to Sin and to abide in evil and unholy Ways and Practices But let us deny Ungodliness and worldly Lusts and live soberly righteously and godly in this present World putting on the Armour of Light and Righteousness on the Right-hand and on the Left And let us in earnest make Religion the great Business of our Lives believing God's Promises and expecting this most glorious Reward But some may possible object in this manner We have heard the manifold Duties of Religion and have sometimes considered of the great Reward proposed But we find to our Discouragement that Religion is a Wisdom too high for us and the Practice of it a Province too difficult It is a way too strait and a Gate too narrow a Yoke too pressing a Burden too heavy a severe Warfare a tedious Travel It is impossible to comply with it and if we would endeavour the Practice of it we cannot effect it It were more easy to us to dig in the Mines or serve in the Gallies then to break off our Sins and live a holy Life And therefore urge us not to attempt Impossibilities My Answer to this Objection is That it is a Mistake and that what is required is through Divine Assistance and Grace very possible and certainly practicable The Difficulties are great but there is a Grace given to Believers that surmounts them all that levels the Mountains fills up the Valleys makes the crooked places streight and the rough places even that opens the blind Eyes of Mens Minds and softneth hard Hearts and subdues rebellious Wills and regulates disordered Affections that enlightens and enables to will and to do and out of Weakness makes strong and calls things that are not as if they were and raises dead Souls to Life Therefore let it not be said It is impossible to be Religious But let Men beg the Grace that will make it possible And never let it be said it is impracticable when Multitudes though few in Comparison of greater Multitudes have lived in the practice and exercise of Holiness A Cloud of Witnesses as they are called Heb. 12.1 have gone before us in the practice of these things though Men of like passions with us The Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and many others have given us the Pattern and Proof of all this Piety and Godliness Some of all sorts have sincerely effectually and successfully engaged in it viz. some Kings Princes and Emperours as David Jehosaphat Hezekiah c. some Generals of Armies as Joshua and Gideon c. some Officers of State as Joseph Obediah c. some Learned Rich and Honourable and some Poor Mean Illiterate and Despifed Perfons so that none of us of what quality or condition soever can say Religion and Godliness is Impracticable by Persons of our Condition and Circumstances in the World Having then Patterns of Piety in all Ranks and Conditions of Men let us set these Examples before us and asking Grace and imploring Aids from God through the Mediator Christ Jesus let us imitate them and be holy as They were in all manner of Conversation And besides these Ancient Examples we have some in this present Age by whom it is evident that Godliness in the Life and Power and Exactness of it is really practicable We have now before us That which is sufficient utterly to silence the Objection I mean The Remains and Memory of this Eminent LADY and Excellent CHRISTIAN whose great Piety was the Glory of this Place And whose Recess from amongst us though She died full of dayes hath filled many Hearts with a passionate Grief

to observe God rather than Man and to provide for Eternity rather than Time And all their circumspect walking their redeeming their Time their daily Devotion their Self-denial Consciencious Carriage and what-ever provokes prophane Mouths to reproach them are but the necessary Effects of these three Principles of Wisdome And all the Wickedness of Ungodly Men proceeds from the want of this Wisdom XLV Holiness is a Privilege I look upon Holiness as none of the least of a Christian's Privilege But we are apt to consider it more as Necessary than as Glorious as our Duty rather than our Ornament Acceptance with God is a Privilege And is likeness to Him inferiour to it Is freedom from Satan's Malice a Privilege and is not the destroying his Image in us the same To be turned from Carnal to Spiritual from Earthly to Heavenly from Pride to Humility from Peevish to Kind from Sinners to Saints Are not these things Privileges Let this Truth be entertain'd And when we shall see the beauty of Holiness and desire it because we love and esteem it then God will open the Treasures of his Grace and give us more plentifully of the pouring forth of his Spirit XLVI The necessity of having and living by some stated Rules To the shaking off the Tyrannical Government of Passion Ambition and Self-will and that we may not be hurried by every Motion of our Minds it is necessary to have some fixed and stated Rules of Good and Evil without this we shall never live as becomes Reasonable Creatures Such is our Ignorance as we shall not know how to govern our selves unless we apply to some Rule for Information And so many and great are our Temptations that they will prevail unless we keep some fixed Rule for our Actions He that acteth always according to present Thoughts and Inclinations shall never be able to resist the offers of Sin when Temptations are present Such also is our Incogitancy and Forgetfulness that it is needful to fix some Rules for our Actions to which we bind our selves not to depart from them for this will allarm and inlighten Conscience and Conscience is the surest help to Memory Our Inconstancy also to our selves makes it needful to keep some Rules of Life that so every Thought every Company every Accident of Life may not alter our Minds and Actions XLVII We converse with God in his holy Ordinances when our Minds are sutably affected under them The way and means by which God conveys himself is by the Ordinances of his publick Worship and private Duties of Religion These are like the Tabernacle and Ark of old As they were filled and covered sometimes with the Cloud so these with Spiritual and Invisible Glory But a bare attending on these is not our Communion with God Our Communion is to have our Souls suitably affected with the matter of them When the Heart is hot the Affections moving Grace exercised when a Threatning awes us a Command delights and a Promise enters the Ear like good News in a perilous time when a Discourse of Christ inflames the Soul with Love and Desire when a Discourse of Heaven raises the Mind above the World when Truths are accompanied with Light and Love so that the Soul cleaves to them and hangs upon them this is Communion with God and then are Ordinances and Duties filled with the Holy Spirit XLVIII To govern the Tongue is one of the difficult parts of Religion 'T is hard to govern the Tongue aright much of Mortification lieth in the restraining of it much positive Sanctification in the right use of it It requites much Knowledg Wisdom Faithfulness Courage Watchfulness Deliberation Examination of our selves much Prayer yea much and strong Grace to govern it well The right governing of it is also a glorious part of our Christian Profession and mightily commends it to others XLIX He that governs his Tongue aright the same is a perfect Man The due governing of the Tongue implies and supposes whatever else goes to the making up of Evangelical Perfection Where the Tongue is governed the whole Life also is ordered by Rule And it will be found that whoever wants Grace faileth much in this Particular and discovers the want of it either by his Speech or by his Silence For the same Light which directs the Government of the Tongue the same Arguments that move to it and the same Power that assists it will enlighten us to see other Duties move as strongly to undertake them and as effectually help us to perform them L. A due Care of our Thoughts is a great Evidence of Uprightness It shews that Religion hath indeed possessed our Minds when we are careful so to mangage our Thoughts as that they be not only innocent but most frequently very serious and holy LI. Meekness produces Peace and Joy The Exercise of that Meekness which is a supernatural Grace a Disposition wrought in the Soul by the Holy Ghost which aims at God Glory and the Honour of Religion makes Conscience serene and joyful When I can reflect upon Passions restrained Injuries forgiven an Enemy loved Contentment in every Condition ready submission to every Providence and much Self-denial that God may be pleased how pleasantly doth Conscience look upon it LII Meekness gives us the possession of our selves Meekness giveth us the entire possession of our selves and the use of our Faculties But Anger and Impatience causeth that we cannot enjoy our selves nor apply to any Affair making every thing tedious and troublesom to us LIII Meekness preserves our Peace with our Neighbours As Meekness procures Peace in our own Souls so it also procures Peace and Quiet amongst Neighbours Few will strive with them that will not contend and are so far from injuring others that they readily forgive such as injure them LIV. The expectation of Death is profitable to a Christian The serious Expectation of Death not forgetting Judgment freeth us from the afflicting discomposing Apprehensions thereof It doth the Christian great Service it takes off from Carnal Pleasures Covetous Desires and Ambitious Pursuits and administers to Patience and Contentment It assists his redeeming his Time prompts him to settle the Affairs of his Soul to put his Heart and House in Order to leave nothing to be done to morrow that may be done to day It excites to frequent Examination quickens Repentance and suffers him not to continue in Sin It assists Fervency in Prayer as it drives away Worldly Cares and helps against Distraction for Death is a solemn thing and the thoughts of it breed a Passion in the Mind and all soft Passions help Devotion It sweetens all Labour Work and Duty because of the Everlasting Rest it leads unto It moves us to pray for others to counsel them and do what we can for them Thus Death in the Expectation of it is a Blessing if we expect it as certain and yet uncertain when it shall come as attended with Judgment and as putting a full End